"z.  ./r.  /6 


^  t^  ŒfyBiaçum 


^  PRINCETON,  N.  J.  ^ 


Division     L 

.... 


.Wrt/'o 


THE  LIFE 


OUR  LORD  JESUS  CHRIST, 


LOUIS  VEUILLOT. 


"SIC      DEUS      DELEXIT      MUNDUM." 


TRANSLATED  INTO  ENGLISH 
BY 

The    Rev.   ANTHONY    FARLEY, 

S/.  Monica's  Church,  "Jamaica,  L.  I, 


FROM     THE     SEVENTH    FRENCH    EDITION. 


1878. 


New  York: 
PETER  F.  COLLIER,  24  BARCLAY  STREET: 


"1 


fat       s^  ..^ 

î^ffraiJPB 

fïa^KÎS] 

DILECTO    FILIO 


ALOISIO    VEUILLOT 


LUTETIAN!      I'ARISIORUM. 


PIUS    PP.    IX. 


r\ILECTE    Fili,  salutem  et  Apostolicam  benedic- 
-*-^      tionem. 

Gratulamur  Tibi,  Dilecte  Fili,  quod,  etsi  submotus 
ab  arena  ubi  adeo  strcnue  ac  utiliter  pro  veritate  et 
justitia  pugnabas,  talentum  Tibi  creditum  in  terram  non 
foderis,  sed  alacriter  eidem,  quam  tuebaris,  causae  ser- 
vire  perrexeris  ac  novas  ferre  suppetias.  Id  testantur 
recentiora  scripta  Tua,  id  postremum  confirmât  Nobis 
oblatum  de  vita  D.  N.  Jesu  Christi  in  lœsae  Divinitatis 
vindicium  édita.  E  perpaucis  enim  illis  quœ,  mul- 
tiplices  inter  curas  Nostras,  inde  delibare  potuimus, 
accommodatissimam  omnium  proposito  fini  methodum 
a  Te  electam  fuisse  existimavimus,  Teque  in  re  pertrac- 
tanda  Tibi  plane  parem    exhibuisse.     Accessit  autcm 


Approbation. 

quod  haec  lucubratio  Tua  se  Nobis  obtulerit  extrinseco 
etiam  peculiari  splendore  ornatam  ab  aerumnarum , 
quibus  obnoxius  es,  indole  ;  quippe,  quae,  adversis  istis 
in  adjunctis,  veterem  redolet  esuriem  ac  sitim  justitiae, 
eamdemque  animi  comparationcm  ac  firmitatem  in 
suscepto  olim  certamine  obeundo.     Hinc,  etsi  Tuis  Nos  \ 

commoveri  aegritudinibus,  et  ad  dolendam  vicem  Tuam 
humanitus  inclinari  senserimus,   inopportunum  tamen  ( 

censuimus  conquestum  ubi  Apostolus  ait  :  Beatus  vir 
qui  suffert  tcntatiojicm,  imo  etiam  :  Omne  gaudium 
exist imate,  fratres  vici,  cum  in  tentationes  varias  in- 
cidcritis.  Itaque,  cum  constantia  Tua  doceat  proba- 
tionem  fidei  Tuae  reipsa  operari  in  Te  patientiam  illam 
quae  opus  perfectum  habet,  ad  gratulationem  potius 
compellimur,  Teque  ad  gaudium  excitare  cogimur. 
Quod  ut  faciliusTibi  assequi  contingat,  uberius  semper 
gratiae  incrementum  Tibi  ominamur  atque  adprecamur 
a  Deo  ;  atque  hujus  ccelestis  doni  auspicem  et  praeci- 
puae  benevolentiae  et  grati  animi  pignus,  Benedictionem 
Apostolicam  Tibi  Tuisque  peramanter  impertimur. 

Datum    Romae,  apud   S.    Petrum,  die  9  julii   1864, 
Pontificatus  Nostri  anno  XIX. 

PIUS    PP.   IX. 


Approbation. 

[translation.] 
TO  OUR   BELOVED   SON    LOUIS   VEUILLOT, 


) 

)  AT  PARIS. 

) 

) 


TION 


w 

the  arena  where  you  fought  so  bravely  and 
usefully  for  truth  and  right,  far  from  burying  the  ta- 
lent entrusted  to  you,  you  have  gone  on  cheerfully 
serving  the  cause  you  had  defended,  and  bringing 
new  vigor  to  its  support.  This  is  attested  by  your 
later  works,  and  is  confirmed  by  your  last,  which  you 
have  sent  to  us,  on  the  Life  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ, 
published  to  vindicate  his  outraged  Godhead.  From 
the  short  perusal  we  have  been  enabled,  amid  our  in- 
cessant and  increasing  duties,  to  bestow  upon  it,  we 
are  of  opinion  that  you  have  chosen  the  most  suitable 
method  for  attaining  the  end  you  proposed  to  yourself, 
and  that  you  have  been  quite  equal  to  yourself  in  the 
fulfilment  of  your  tfcsk.  Nay,  more,  that  this  new  work 
presented  to  us  gains  peculiar  lustre  from  the  nature 
of  the  trials  to  which  you  have  become  subject  ;  since, 
amid  those  trying  circumstances,  it  is  marked  by  that 


PIUS    IX.,   POPE.  j 

I 

{  BELOVED      SON,     HEALTH    AND     APOSTOLIC     BENEDIC- 


E  congratulate  you,  dear  son,  that,  driven  from  ( 


8  Approbation. 

hunger  and  thirst  for  justice,  that  zeal  and  strength  of 
mind,  you  always  manifested  in  maintaining  the  com- 
bat you  entered  upon.  Although  we  were  sensibly 
moved  at  your  trials  and  tenderly  inclined  to  compas- 
sionate your  condition,  we  considered  condolence  inop- 
portune, since  the  apostle  says,  "  Blessed  is  the  man 
who  endureth  temptation  "  ;  and  again,  "  Count  it  all 
joy,  my  brethren,  when  you  shall  fall  into  divers 
trials."  Therefore,  since  your  constancy  attests  that 
the  trial  of  your  faith  really  produces  in  you  that  pa- 
tience which  has  the  perfect  work,  we  are  compelled 
rather  to  congratulate  than  to  grieve,  and  are  con- 
strained to  exhort  you  to  rejoicing.  That  you  may  the 
more  easily  attain  that  joy  of  spirit,  we  presage  and 
entreat  for  you  from  God  abundance  and  increase  of 
grace,  and  with  all  the  love  and  sincerity  of  our 
heart  we  bestow  on  you  and  yours  the  apostolic  bene- 
diction— a  token  of  the  celestial  gift  and  a  pledge  of 
our  special  benevolence  and  affection. 

Given  at  Rome,  at  St.  Peter's,  the  ninth  day 
of  July,  1864,  in  the  nineteenth  year  of  our 
pontificate. 

PIUS  IX.  POPE. 


TABLE  OF  CONTENTS. 


PAGE 

Translator's  Preface, g 

Preface 13 

Introduction  : 

I.  God  and  Man, 35 

II.  Before  Christ,         ........  50 

III.  The  Prophecies, 70 

BOOK  I. 

The  Prologue  of  the  Gospel. 
Chap.  I.      Nazareth — Bethlehem — The  Jordan,  .        .         .    .     89 

Chap.  II.  Zachary — Elizabeth — Mary  —  John  —  Joseph  —  The 
Crib — The    Shepherds  — ■  Simeon  —  Anna  —  The 

Magi — Herod, 104 

Chap.  III.  The  Ancestors  of    Jesus — The   Temptation   in   the 

Desert — The  First  Disciples,         .        .         .         .         125 

BOOK  II. 

The  Happy    Year. 

Chap.  I.       Marriage  Feast  of  Cana — Miraculous  Fishing,  137 

Chap.  II.     Nicodemus — The  Samaritan  Woman,         .         .         .       150 

Chap.  III.  The  Sick  Healed — The  Tempest  Calmed — Demons 

Vanquished — The  Pharisees,  .....       162 
Chap.  IV.  The  Woman  Afflicted  with  the  Issue  of  Blood— The 

Daughter  of  Jainis, 169 

Chap.  V.     The  Sick  Man  at  the  Pool— Magdalene,  .         .         .180 

BOOK  III. 

The  Struggle. 

CHAr.   I.       Conspiracy  of  the  Jews — Miracles  on  the  Sabbath 

Day — Institution  of  the  Apostles — Judas,     .         .       19S 

CHAP.  II.  Sermon  on  the  Mount — The  Leper  Healed — The 
Centurion — The  Widow's  Son — The  Envoys  of 
John  the  Baptist — The  Pharisees,  .         .         .       206 

CHAP.  III.  The  Sower— The  Tares— The  Mustard-Seed— The 

Net  Cast  into  the  Sea 216 

CHAr.  IV.  Incredulity  of  Nazareth — First  Mission  of  the  Apos- 
tles— The  Five  Loaves — Peter  Walks  on  the 
Waters — Announcement  of  the  Eucharist,    .         .       223 


Jable  of  Contents. 


BOOK  IV. 

Education  of  the  Apostles. 
Chap.  I.      False  Purification — The    Chanaanite  —  The  Deaf 

Mute — The  Second  Multiplication  of  the  Loaves, 
Chap.  II.    The  Blind  Man  of  Bethsaida — Confession  of  Peter — 

Thabor,    ......... 

Chap.  III.  The  Child  Afflicted  Delivered  from  the  Devil— The 

Drachma — Precept  of  Forgiveness, 
Chap.  IV.  .Teaching  in  the  Temple — The  Woman    Taken    in 

Adulterv, 

Chap.  V.     The  Man  Born  Blind, 


Chap.  I. 
Chap.  II. 


Chap. 
Chap. 
Chap. 


III. 
IV. 
V. 


Chap.  I. 
Chap.  II. 
Chap.  Ill, 


Chap.  I. 

Chap.  II. 
Chap.  Ill, 


BOOK  V. 

Discourses  and  Parables. 

Mission  of  the  Disciples — The  Samaritan — Martha 
and  Mary,         ........ 

The  Woman  Bowed  Together — The  Banquets  at 
which  Jesus  Assisted — The  Dropsical  Man — Lec- 
tures to  the  Pharisees,  ...... 

The  Sheep — The  Drachma — The  Prodigal  Son, 

The  Unjust  Judge — Prayer — Marriage,    . 

Voluntary  Poverty — Little  Children, 

BOOK  VI. 
Resurrectio7ts. 

Lazarus, 

The  General  Resurrection,         .         .         .         ... 

Caiphas — The  Blind  Man  of  Jericho — Zacheus— 
Magdalene  and  Judas, 

BOOK  VII. 
The  Eucharist. 
Entrance  into  Jerusalem — Malediction  of  the  Fig- 
Tree,         . 

The  Last  Journey  to  the  Temple,       .... 
The  Passover,      ........ 


Chap.  I. 
Chap.  II. 
Chap.  III. 
Chap.  IV. 
Chap.  V. 


Chap.  I. 
Chap.  II. 
Chap.  III. 
Chap.  IV. 
Chap.  V. 
Chap.  VI. 


The  Jew?, 
Pilate, 


BOOK  VIII. 

77*i?  Passion  of  Our  Lord. 


Calvary,        .... 
The  Sign  of  the  Cross, 
The  Sepulture,     . 

BOOK  IX. 

Jesus  Arisen, 
The  Resurrection, 
The  Ascension,    . 
The  Apostles — Peter, 
The  Apostles — Paul, 
The  Apostles — John, 
The  Conclusion, 


235 

252 

260 

266 
276 


2S6 


297 
307 
317 
332 


333 

349 

360 


371 
38i 
393 


412 
424 
433 
445 
451 


453 
465 
473 
487 

495 
502 


Hj/*^ 

&fHS 

3pif£|jj 

^Pfji^^S^^ 

jeê$- 

"Ml 

m'9l 

9R\^3fê 

Translators  Preface. 


r  I  ^HIS  book,  now  for  the  first  time  presented  to 
-*-  the  public  in  an  English  garb,  was  written  by 
the  great  Catholic  apologist  Veuillot,  in  answer  to 
Renan's  celebrated  Life  of  Jesus  Christ,  which  some 
years  ago  stirred  the  Christian  heart  to  its  centre, 
awakening  throughout  the  world  a  clamor  of  devout 
horror  or  of  infidel  applause. 

It  is  truly  what  our  Holy  Father  Pius  IX.  calls  it, 
"  A  Vindication  of  the  Outraged  Godhead  of  Christ." 

Nothing  need  be  said  by  the  translator  in  favor 
of  such  a  work.  Let  its  title,  its  author's  name,  and 
the  high  eulogy  passed  upon  it  by  the  Supreme 
Judge  of  Christian  truth,  answer  for  its  worth. 

But  the  translation  itself  requires  a  few  words  of 
vindication  and  apology. 

Appearing  as  it  does  some  time  after  the  existence 
of  the  original  work,  it  might  seem  that  the  object 
of  the  book  had  ceased  to  be,  had  been  forgotten, 
or  was  of  no  moment  to  the  public  of  our  day 
and   of   our    country.      But  when    we    remember   the 

9 


io  Translator'' s  Preface. 

deep  impression  produced  by  Renan's  work — an  im- 
pression stamped  (it  would  seem  indelibly)  upon 
the  religious  literature  and  religious  teaching  of  our 
times — we  have  to  admit  that  a  vindication  of 
Christ,  the  God- Man,  is  as  necessary  to-day  as  it  was 
when  the  new  Voltaire  appeared  to  shock  religious 
sentiment  in  France  and  in  the  world.  "  Chris- 
tus  heri  et  hodie,"  is  the  war-cry  of  the  foes,  just 
as  much  as  the  trust  and  comfort  of  the  faithful 
lovers  of  the  God-Man. 

For   the   devout   Catholic  this  book  is  full  of  unc- 
tion as  it  is  of  instruction. 

As  regards  the  style  of  this  work,  some  apology 
is  due  to  the  reader.  To  translate  well  from  French 
into  English  is,  under  any  circumstances,  a  difficult 
task.  But,  besides  this,  the  peculiar  nature  of  this 
work,  the  profound  depths  the  author  sounded,  espe- 
cially in  his  introduction,  and  his  characteristic  style  j 
of  composition,  rendered  this  translation  a  laborious 
work,  and  one  that  seemed  at  times  impossible.  The 
reader  will  therefore,  it  is  hoped,  pardon  in  it  much 
that  is  crude  and  inelegant.  For  the  rest,  he  may  be 
assured  that  this  translation  exactly  renders  the  sense 
of  every  portion  of  the  book.                                                          \ 

The  author  himself  vouches  for  the  accuracy  of 
his  quotations  from  other  writers,  without  particularly 
referring  to  the  works  from  which  he  quotes.  The 
translator  has  relied  entirely  upon  his  learned  au- 
thority ;  so  may  the  reader. 


Translator's  Preface.  i  r 

As  to  Scripture  passages,  so  necessarily  frequent 
in  a  book  founded  on  Gospel  narrative,  they  are  sup- 
posed to  be'  quite  familiar  to  the  reader.  Hence 
neither   author  nor  translator  have  deemed  it  neces- 


sary  to  refer  to  particular  gospels  or  chapters  of  gos- 
pels. Such  passages  also  are  for  the  most  part  freely 
translated  from  the  French  of  the  author,  the  main 
object  being  historical,  not  textual,  accuracy. 

Finally,  hoping  that  this  modest  labor  may  be  well 
received  by  the  clergy,  who  will  find  in  the  work 
excellent  reflections  on  the  Gospel  they  were  sent  to 


preach  ;  by  the  devout  laity,  who  will  appreciate  the 


( 

some  too,    perhaps,    of    those    "  other   sheep  "    whom  ( 

the    divine    Pastor    so    wishes    to    nourish    with     the 


holy  and  happy  thoughts   of    one  of  themselves    on 
a    subject    so    dear    to    the    Christian    heart  ;    and    by 


)  knowledge    and    love  of   himself,  and  "  lead    into  his 

fold,"  it    is  humbly  but   trustfully  committed  to  the 
public  by  the  translator. 

) 
) 


PREFACE. 


THOSE  who  have  seen  Jesus  Christ,  living,  dying, 
and  dead;  who,  having  detached  him  from  the 
cross  and  carried  him  to  the  tomb,  have  seen  him 
alive  after  his  death,  have  touched  him  with  their 
hands,  have  seen  him  with  their  eyes  ascend  to 
heaven — these  irrefragable  witnesses  of  Jesus  have 
also  published  his  history.  With  a  loud  voice,  in  the 
presence  of  the  people,  a  witness,  like  themselves,  in  the 
presence  of  the  powerful  and  wicked  who  crucified 
their  Master,  they  have  proclaimed  "  that  he  is  the 
Son  of  God,  that  he  has  spoken  the  words  of  God,  that 
he  did  the  works  of  God,  that  he  has  arisen,  that  he 
lives,  that  he  is  seated  at  the  right  hand  of  his  Father." 
Thus  they  have  spoken  even  in  the  midst  of  torments, 
and  since  their  time  the  miracle  of  the  same  truth  has 
not  ceased  to  be  attested  by  the  miracle  of  the  same 
martyr. 

Here,  then,  we  behold  the  first  history  of  Jesus. 
We  preserve  it  intact  in  its  native  form,  as  divine  as 
the  life  it  relates.  It  is  called  the  Apostolic  Symbol,  or 
the  Apostles'  Creed.  Divine  faith  has  given  it  a  name 
more  profound  and  more  magnificent — it  is  the  Credo  : 

"  I  believe  in  God,  the  Father  Almighty,  Creator  of 
heaven  and  earth  ;  and  in  Jesus  Christ,  his  only  Son, 


14  Preface. 

our  Lord,  who  was  conceived  by  the  Holy  Ghost, 
born  of  the  Virgin  Mary,  suffered  under  Pontius  Pilate, 
was  crucified,  dead  and  buried  ;  he  descended  mto  hell  ; 
the  third  day  he  arose  again  from  the  dead;  he  as- 
cended into  heaven,  and  is  seated  at  the  right  hand  of 
God  the  Father  Almighty  ;  from  thence  he  will  come  to 
judge  the  living  and  the  dead.  I  believe  in  the  Holy 
Ghost,  the  Holy  Catholic  Church,  the  communion  of 
saints,  the  forgiveness  of  sins,  the  resurrection  of  the 


) 
) 
) 

) 

)  body,  and  life  everlasting." 

This   abridgment    contains    a   doctrine    and    at    the 

\  same  time  a  history — a  divine  doctrine  which  has  con- 

)  quered  error  enrooted  in  the  heart  of  man.     Nothing 

has  been  said,  nothing  will  be  said,  nothing  can  be 
truly  said,  which  is  not  contained  in  the  Credo.  All 
truth  flows  from  it,  and  truth  is  found  in  it  and  no- 
where else.  Every  error  is  here  bruised  and  annihilated. 
Twelve    poor    fishermen   of  Judea   received  this  lurrii- 

\  nary,  and  man  issued  forth  from  the  womb  of  darkness. 

\  For  the  space  of  more  than  eighteen  hundred  years 

the  Symbol  of  the  Apostles,  attested  by  the  Catholic 
Church,  holds  back  the  entire  world  from  plunging  into 
the  darkness  of  error;  and  for  more  than  eighteen 
hundred  years  an  unwearied  voice  denies  this  heavenly 
light. 

Denial  is  one  of  the  names  of  death  ;  it  would  wish 
to  take  Jesus  Christ  out  of  the  world,  the  only  Son 
of  God,  whose  mercy  has  clothed  our  mortality  in 
order  to  communicate  to  us  his  eternal  life.  Innu- 
merable sophists  have  exerted  all  their  ingenuity  to 
get  rid  of  Christ,  true  God  and  true  man,  at  one  time 
his  divinity,  at  another  his  humanity.  They  have 
denied  the  God,  they  have  denied  the  man;  they 
have  even  denied  that  the  person  of  Jesus  has  ever 


Preface.  1 5 

existed.  The  Jesus  of  the  Credo  could  only  be, 
according  to  them,  the  product  of  the  popular  imagi- 
nation. Poor  human  reason  has  furnished  its  quota 
of  sects  to  that  sweeping  logic  of  negation,  because 
it    is    less    impossible    to    deny    the    existence    of    the 


man  than  to  deny  the  God  in  man. 

But  the  logic  of  the  absurdity  has  too  well  unmasked 
.he  absurdity;  the  inconsequence  has  appeared  prefer- 
able, and  every  effort  in  these  days  is  directed  against 
the  Divinity.  They  say  that  God  made  man  is  simply 
a  man  whom  ignorance  has  made  God — a  man  without 
doubt  endowed  with  genius  and  virtue,  good,  amiable, 
almost  sincere  ;  nevertheless,  a  man,  and  in  whom  we 
discover  frailty,  passion,  falsehood.  They  advance  an 
impudent  thesis,  according  to  which  falsehood  is  the 
right  and  privilege  of  the  elevated  and  intellectual 
minds,  who  are  to  be  considered  the  elite  of  the  human 
race  ;  and  Jesus,  they  say,  has  availed  himself  of  false- 
hood to  invest  a  sublime  morality  with  credit.  They 
are  profuse  in  this  sort  of  eulogy,  which  is  the  most 
subtle  refinement  of  outrage,  blasphemy,  and  insult. 
In  the  questionable  perfections  they  yield  to  the 
man;  they  hope  to  annihilate  the  God. 

Passus /  Yet  living  in  his  church,  he  yet  suffers. 
Those  sufferings  arc  but  a  sketch  of  his  continued  Pas- 
sion. Amidst  his  benefits  hatred  breaks  out  ;  negation 
rears  itself  in  the  face  of  miracles  ;  betrayal  sits  at  the 
banquet  where  he  gives  his  flcsli.  Derision  insults  him 
on  the  cross.  It  is  in  the  Gospel  humanity  can  see 
how  sin  has  made  it  the  slave  of  death.  By  instinct 
it  rejects  salvation  ;    it  docs  not  wish   to  be  saved. 

There  is  nothing  more  obstinate  than  the  malignity 
of  sectarians,  except  the  inclination  of  fallen  nature  to 
accord  them  credit.       St.  Paul,  forced  to  combat  Alex- 


i6  Preface. 

ander  the  silversmith,  attests  the  injury  done  to  him 
and  his  cause  by  that  obscure  adversary.  Millions  of 
martyrs,  of  confessors,  of  apologists,  prevail  not  against 
the  wily  cunning  which  attempts  to  lead  astray  human  > 

presumption.  On  the  word  of  a  sophist  the  ignorant 
man  rejects  the  testimony  of  nineteen  centuries.      For  > 

him,  everything    is   proof  against    Jesus  Christ.       He  i 

counts  as  nothing  so  many  men  of  every  epoch,  of  all  > 

countries,  masters  in  all  the  sciences,  bound  together 
by  community  of  unbelief,  who  have  bowed  down  be- 
fore the  Gospel,  in  spite  of  their  tyrant  hearts,  in  op- 
position to  their  own  self-love.  He  will  not  admit  to 
himself  that  those  men,  far  from  eluding  them,  were 
bound  to  seek  objections  ;  that  they  have  been  anxious 
to  find  it  insoluble;  and  that  they  only  abandoned  it 
after  having  incontestably  proved  its  emptiness.  No  ; 
those  men  of  Christ,  say  they,  were  cither  deceived  or 
wished  to  deceive.  As  for  the  silversmith,  he  was  hon- 
est and  learned.  Not  that  they  argue  from  conviction 
even.     In  the  eyes  of  the  ignorant  the  knowledge  and  ? 

integrity  of  heresy  are  more  doubtful  than  the  divinity  [ 

of  Jesus.  But  the  wickedness  of  the  human  heart 
co-operates  with  heresy.  Thence  the  gloomy  fire 
which  casts  a  lurid  cloud  over  the  light  of  evidence.  i 

That  God  be  other  than  he  is,  or  be  not  at  all — there- 
in lies  the  hidden  wish,  the  secret  longing,  of  incredulous 
science.  Therein  is  it  sure  to  run  counter  to  belief. 
However,  no  science  can  contend  against  Jesus  Christ. 
There  never  has  or  will  be  any.  Scientific  unbelief  is 
but  a  labored  ignorance,  a  mask  of  impiety  adjusted  to 
deceive  the  conscience  and  furnish  it  with  some  rea-  < 

sons  for  not  believing.  As  soon  as  conscience  throws 
off  Jesus  Christ,  it  becomes  easy  and  pliant  as  regards 
its  way  and  its  guide.     It  accepts  every  road  ;  it  accords 


Preface.  1 7 

to  the  hypocritical  guide  all  the  virtues  he  wishes  to 
attribute  to  himself;  it  pardons  in  the  cynic  guide  all 
the   vices  he  exhibits. 

Among  these  learned  adversaries  of  Christ,  what 
manifests  itself  the  most  is  the  desire  to  remain  in 
ignorance.  They  are  impious  rather  than  really  un- 
believing. What  industry  they  show  in  shutting  out 
the  light  of  truth  !  "What  a  vile  artifice  to  thicken 
the  darkness  around  them  !  And  when  evidence  forced 
them  to  shout  denial,  their  ravings  are  like  to  the  most 
formal  acts  of  faith.  In  the  Gospel  the  demons,  seeing 
Jesus,  cry  out  to  him,  "  Son  of  God,  leave  us  in  peace  ; 
do  not  disturb  us  ;  let  us  alone."  For  the  demon, 
the  father  of  the  supreme  lie — that  is,  of  false  know- 
ledge— father  also  of  negation,  is  very  learned  and 
very  believing.  But,  torn  by  an  eternal  pride,  he 
hates,   he  blasphemes,   he  denies. 

On  whatever  ground  denial  or  negation  wished  to 
measure  swords  with  th 2  unerring  and  unfailing  truth, 
it  has  been  beaten.  Its  most  boasted  works  have 
never  been  able  to  stand  the  test  of  sound  criticism. 
After  a  short  triumph  of  deceit  the  enemies  them- 
selves end  by  repeating  that  beautiful  expression  of 
Tertuilian  to  Marcion,  a  falsifier  of  the  Gospel:  "Christ 
yet  exists."  Nevertheless,  it  is  true  a  general  success, 
often  enduring,  encourages  those  miserable  labors. 
They  survive  for  a  long  while  the  contempt  wherein 
they  have  suddenly  fallen,  equally  protected  in  their 
disgrace  by  the  complaisant  ignorance  of  the  public 
and  by  the  unreflected  insufficiency  of  the  refutations. 

Doubtless  those  deniers  and  falsifiers  of  the  truth 
have  been  admirably  refuted  in  every  objection  raised 
by  them  ;  but  since  their  supreme  art  lies  in  feigning 
and    producing    ignorance,  the  essential  point  should 


1 8  Preface. 

be  to  reply  especially  to  what  they  do  not  sa>  This 
is  what  we  unavoidably  forget. 

The  last  of  those  wicked  impugners  of  the  divinity 
of  Christ  our  Lord  who  has  rendered  himself  cele- 
brated has  well  understood,  in  a  book  of  five  or  six 
hundred  pages,  how  to  speak  of  Jesus  Christ  without 
pointing  him  out.  Perpetually  avoiding  all  that  be- 
longs to  God,  with  the  same  stroke  he  perverts  all 
that  belongs  to  the  man.  This  artifice  of  weakness 
is  the  only  strength  of  the  book.  It  has  drawn  the 
apologist  into  the  discussion  of  trifles  in  which  the 
Man-God  completely  disappears.  The  refutations  are 
excellent,  but  they  leave  us  ignorant  of  what  Jesus 
Christ  has  done,  and  for  what  purpose  he  came  into 
the  world.  Thus  it  is  not  Christ  who  has  the  case 
gained,  yet  less  the  laborious  reader  of  so  much  con- 
troversy ;  it  is  this  miserable  man,  who  has  proposed 
to  himself  to  betray  God  and  his  neighbor, 
s  Hence    the    idea    of    this    life    of  our    Lord.      The 

\  attacks    of   contemporaneous     incredulity    have    been 

\  the   occasion  of  it  ;  they  are  not  directly   the    object 

of  it. 
\  The    clement   wisdom    of  Jesus   has   not  been   left 

to    the    mercy    of   sophists,    nor    to    the    resources    of 
I  reason,    nor    to    lowliness  or    feebleness    of   faith.     It 

has  foreseen  the  weakness  of  the  mind  of  man,  and 
has  prepared  a  succor  always  victorious.  It  is  not 
necessary  to  ransack  the  libraries,  to  collect  together 
so  many  dead  languages,  so  much  history,  so  much 
physics,  so  much  philosophy,  to  know  with  certainty 
Him  who  came  to  save  the  little  ones  and  the  ignorant. 
The  bread  of  life  is  as  easy  to  find  as  the  material 
bread,  on  the  same  conditions.  A  simple,  faithful 
Christian    or    member  of   the  Church  of  God,  a  man 


I 


r~ 


D-eface.  1 9 

of  the  world,  provided  he  may  have  studied  a  few 
books  and  heard  some  instruction,  can  render  an  ac- 
count of  his  faith  far  better    than  the    "  savants,"  the 


account  of  their  incredulity.     The  Gospel  is  sufficient 
for  that. 

The  Gospel  contains  motives  conclusive  of  the  faith 
in  Jesus  Christ,  true  God  and  true  man — motives, 
reasons,  which  the  Saviour  himself  has  put  forth. 
We  can  paralyze,  by  the  contents  of  the  Gospel,  the 
sophistry  of  the  infidel,  without  being  shocked  by  its 
contact.  What  does  it  matter  that  the  sophist  should 
amass  notes  against  the  sincerity  of  the  Evangelists,  if 
we  have  clear  proof  that  he  of  whom  the  Evangelists 
speak  is  God  ?     On  bended  knees,  before  the  Real  Pre- 


) 

\  pretended  unbelievers,  are  in  a  condition    to    give  an 


sence,  one  is  not  tempted  to  withdraw  from  its  contem- 


plation in  order  to  consider  or  view  more  closely  this 
vile  apparition  of  blasphemy.  We  are  by  no  means 
bound   to  extract  from  it  open  avowals  of  repentance. 

There  are  different  degrees  in  the  region  of  the 
mind;  discussion  belongs  to  the  inferior  degrees.  In 
discussing,  man  is  pitted  against  man  ;  the  reason  of 
the  one  seems  as  good  as  that  of  the  other.  In  ex- 
pounding,  we  place  God   against   man. 

This  exposition  of  the  truth  must  get  the  preference 
when  God  is  absolutely  and  personally  in  the  case. 
From  the  apex  of  those  lofty  heights  the  voice  of 
man  properly  avoids  discussing  with  nothingness,  lest 
weak  human  reason  might  be  inclined  to  believe  that 
nothingness  could  reply  ;  that  the  beauty  of  truth 
might  appear  alone  in  the  presence  of  the  absolute 
deformity  of  falsehood. 

We  will  suppose  a  man  almost  completely  ignorant 
of  religious   matters,  without  hatred,  but   not  without 

( 

J 


20  Preface. 


\  prejudices  ;  his  mind  unsettled  about  the  existence  oî 

\  God  ;  very  uncertain  about  the  divinity  of  Jesus  Christ  ; 

j  rather  disposed  not  to  believe  it,  yet  avoiding  to  speak 

on  the  subject  through  simple  feeling  of  delicacy,  be- 
cause he  knows  that  he  does  not  know, — this  man  has 
listened  to  the  deniers.  He  doubts  their  sincerity;  at 
least,  they  appear  to  him  frivolous.  Nevertheless,  is 
there  another  God  besides  the  indulgent  and  shadowy 
God  of  deism  ?  And  he  who  has  proclaimed  himself 
the  Son  of  God — this  Jesus  Christ  whom  negation 
attempts  to  paint  in  colors  exclusively  human — is  he 
truly  what  he  has  said  he  is  ?  Is  he  God  ?  Powerful 
impressions,  flowing  from  a  corrupt  carnal  heart,  exist 
against  this  belief.  Long  discussions  appear  necessary 
to  discover  its  falsehood  or  truth.  But  to  admit  the 
falsehood  of  the  belief  would  be  frightful  and  destruc- 
tive of  human  and  eternal  happiness.  The  soul  shrinks 
and  refuses  to  be  robbed  of  God,  its  creator.  The 
truth  of  this  belief,  that  there  is  a  God  eternal,  self- 
exerting,  the  avenger  of  evil,  and  the  rewarder  of  good 
— this  thought  is  consoling,  and  cheers  on  the  pilgrim 
here  below  till  he  arrives  in  the  inexpressible  majesty 
of  his  presence.  Truth  proposes  and  imposes  solemn 
engagements. 

The  common  inclination  is  to  remain  in  doubt, 
expecting  that  doubt  may  produce  indifference,  and 
indifference   forgetfulness. 

Well,  a  man,  an  uncertain  being  floating  on  uncer- 
tainty, who  tends  towards  indifferentism  ;  an  indiffer- 
entist  who  does  not  deny  God,  who  does  not  wish  to 
make  war  on  him,  who  has  simply  resolved  to  forget 
God,  not  knowing  that  God  will  not  forget  him— a 
man,  in  a  word,  who  has  never  reflected  on  God,  and 
who  desires  never  to  think    of  him — such  a   man  the 


Preface.  2 1 


author  of  this  work  has  been,  and  for  such  men  is  it 
written. 

In  the  Introduction  we  discuss  the  elementary  ques- 
tion of  man  considered  as  a  proof  of  the  existence  of 
God,  of  the  end  for  which  he  has  been  created,  of  the 
fall,  and  of  the  necessity  of  a  mediator.  We  touch  after 
that  on  the  pagan  world  ;  we  present  the  result  of  its 
discoveries  on  the  knowledge  of  man.  Thence  we  pass 
to  the  prophets.  The  prophets,  like  the  apostles,  arc 
inseparable  from  Christ.  It  is  a  deception  to  pretend 
to  relate  the  history  of  Jesus  Christ,  and  suppress  the 
divine  heralds  who  march  before  him  from  the  remotest 
antiquity,  proclaiming  his  mission  and  recounting  be- 
forehand his  works  and  his  life. 

In  the  recital  of  the  mortal  life  of  the  Incarnate 
Word  we  follow  no  other  document  but  the  Gospel. 
We  do  not  attempt  to  prove  anything.  Long  since, 
proofs  were  established.  It  is  a  long  time  ago  since 
Tertullian  said  :  "  The  first  truth  we  ought  to  believe  is 
that  we  should  believe  nothing  rashly  or  superficially." 

The  beautiful  works  of  M.  Abbé  Freppel,  of  Mgr. 
Bishop  of  Nîmes,  of  M.  Augustus  Nicolas,  of  R.  P. 
Gratry,  of  M.  Wallon,  sufficiently  demonstrate  that  the 
ancient- rule  has  always  been  observed. 

There  are  excellent  replies  to  all  the  ancient  and 
modern  objections  in  the  learned  History  of  Our 
Lord  that  Abbé  E.  J.  Darras  is  just  now  publishing. 
It  is  our  wish  in  this  book  to  write  for  those  who  are 
worthy  to  submit  themselves  to  the  simple  reasoning 
of  Jesus.  The  Gospel  relates  the  divinity  of  Jesus 
Christ,  and  the  divinity  of  Jesus  Christ  invincibly 
proves  the  truth  of  the  Gospel.  The  cavillers  are 
forced  to  avow  it.  They  pretend  to  follow  the  Gospel, 
but  they  falsify  it. 


Preface. 

It  is  certain  the  Gospel  presents  to  us  a  wonderful 
spectacle.  Astonished  at  what  God  has  done  for  it,  and 
the  little  he  requires  in  return,  the  soul,  quite  overcome 
by  evidence,  asks  itself  how  can  it  believe  what  it  does 
not  comprehend.  We  behold  afar  off  a  something 
created  by  God  ;  created  in  his  image.  We  enter  on 
the  way  of  the  Inaccessible  ;  we  view  heights  or  sum- 
mits we  cannot  reach. 

But  that  mystery  of  divine  love,  that  abasement  of 
a  God  towards  our  loneliness  ;  that  suavity  of  expres- 
sion, that  patience  of  his  kindness,  that  bitterness  of 
his  agony,  that  phlegm,  that  buffeting  on  the  cross, 
that  sepulchre — -and  all  that  for  us,  and  we  know  we  are 
what  we  are.  Who  will  explain  to  us  the  excess  of  the 
love  of  God  ?  What  do  we  carry  within  us  to  aid  us  to 
comprehend  it?  We  are  forced  to  believe  it  for  the 
sole  reason  that  this  unfathomable  mystery,  which 
nothing  can  explain,  is  itself  the  sole  explanation  of 
all  besides. 

Let  us  refuse  to  believe  that  God  loved  the  world  to 
this  degree,  and  we  have  no  longer  an  explanation  of  any- 
thing; neither  of  God,  nor  man,  nor  of  the  world.  But 
the  Gospel  is  full  of  palpable  realities.  It  is  manifestly 
the  work  of  witnesses  on  whom  it  has  been  enjoined  to 
bear  witness  to  what  they  had  seen.  Say  you,  there- 
fore, "  Yes,  yes,"  "  No,  no"?  Whatever  we  add  "pro- 
ceeds from  evil."  The  Gospel  is  the  truth  of  the  God 
of  truth.  It  is  this  same  God  who  puts  it  in  our  hands, 
who  presents  it  to  our  senses  as  well  as  to  our  reason  ; 
and  there  is  nothing  the  world  can  render  a  higher  tes- 
timony of.  Besides,  the  Gospel  is  in  itself  ever  youth- 
ful.    Too  many  readers  find  it  quite  new. 

Among  infidels  ignorance  of  the  Gospel  is  generally 
complete  ;  among  a  great  many  Christians  it  is  hardly 


Preface.  23 

less  so.  They  know  the  Gospel  by  heart,  and  they  do  not 
understand  it.  They  have  not  read  it  with  care,  with 
order,  such  as  it  has  been  delivered.  They  do  not 
know  how  to  explain  it  or  meditate  on  it  as  they 
ought.  Whoever  sees  in  the  Gospel  only  the  letter, 
does  not  understand  even  the  letter  ;  and  whoever 
seeks  for  morality  only  in  its  pages,  does  not  find  the 
morality  they  contain. 

The  Gospel  of  the  letter  and  of  strict  morality  is  but 
the  skeleton  of  the  true  Catholic  Gospel.  It  is  strip- 
ped of  all  the  beauty  wherewith  God  wishes  to  clothe 
it,  in  order  to  unite  our  hearts  to  Jesus  Christ  by  the 
chains  of  love.  It  has  been  the  design  of  God  that  the 
Gospel  should  be  written,  as  we  have  it,  by  four  au- 
thors, in  four  different  parts,  which  we  must  in  some 
sense  take  singly  in  order  to  fit  them  together  as  a 
whole. 

The  authenticity  of  the  divine  book  is  thus  secured 
from  doubt  ;  and  at  the  same  time  it  can  never  become 
a  common  or  vulgar  production.  If  this  defect  of  com- 
bination should  provoke  the  spirit  of  contradiction,  it 
also  stirs  up  the  spirit  of  faith.  The  ocean  of  sacred 
literature  is  before  us  to  demonstrate  that  nothing 
more  weighty  or  pressing  could  animate  and  fertilize 
the  human  mind. 

Apart  from  the  interpretation,  properly  speaking,  the 
labor  alone  of  establishing  a  chronological  order — about 
which  the  Evangelists  did  not  care — has  produced  won- 
derful lights.  The  Gospel  history  existed  beforehand 
in  the  will  of  Jesus  Christ,  as  in  the  prophecies  which  it 
came  to  accomplish.  The  first  steps  of  the  Saviour 
were  directed  towards  the  hill  of  Calvary.  He  proceeded 
thereon,  knowing  well  where  he  was  going;  holding  his 
enemies  and  death  powerless  as  long  as  he  wished.    Pie 


24  Preface. 


arrives  at  the  hour  eternally  fixed,  and  all   is  consum- 
mated that  was  to  be.  j 

This  universal  miracle  is  the  proof  of  all  the  others. 
Like  all  the  others,  it  proves  the  love  of  God  for  all  man- 
kind. Incredulity  contests  miracles,  because  it  wishes 
to  reject  love  ;  it  controverts  them,  sometimes  by  brut- 
ish negation,  sometimes  by  unjust  and  false  explana- 
tions. It  proclaims  that  a  miracle  is  not  admissible 
either  in  history  or  in  philosophy.  Forced  by  the 
word  of  the  Saviour,  some  "  savants"  admit  that  Jesus 
was  capable  of  believing  that  he  accomplished  those 
things  impossible  to  man.     But,  say  they,  he  has  neither 


performed  them  nor  could  he  do  it,  not  being  God. 
Because  Jesus  Christ,  according  to  those  infidel  philo- 
sophers, is  not  God,  he  has  not  performed  miracles  ; 
and  because,  according  to  them,  Jesus  Christ  has  not 
performed  miracles,  he  is  not  God. 

Their  sophistry  must  give  way  to  solid  reasons  ad- 
duced. Reason  believes  miracles,  because  the  Man- 
God  was  and  is  capable  of  accomplishing  them  ;  because 
he  was  bound  to  perform  them  ;  because  he  incontest- 
ably  proves  his  having  performed  them.  A  Gospel 
without  miracles  would  be  a  foolish,  incredible  Gospel. 
It  required  that  the  Incarnation  should  tinge  with  the 
divine  reflex  all  the  acts  of  the  Saviour,  which  were  but 
the  ostensible  marks  of  his  humanity  ;  otherwise,  when 
I  behold  a  God  yielding  to  hunger,  thirst,  fatigue,  sad- 
ness ;  concealing  himself  by  flight  ;  laboriously  troub- 
ling himself  to  instruct  his  apostles,  so  dull  of  apprehen- 
sion ;  bearing  strokes,  enduring  calumnies,  even  the 
shameful  and  cruel  death  on  the  cross,  it  is  then  my 
astonishment  could  lead  me  to  doubt.  In  all  those 
circumstances  God  appears  dissociated  from  the  divine 
nature.     He  reasserts  his  nature  divine  when  he  com- 


Preface.  25 

mands  the  elements,  raises  the  dead,  institutes  the 
mysterious  Eucharist.  How  could  it  be  that  he  should 
have  descended  from  heaven  and  not  have  wrought 
miracles  ?  He  came  "  in  infirmities,"  for  the  purpose  of 
healing  the  infirm — a  double  condition,  which  demands 
of  him  the  working  of  miracles.  He  was  obliged  to 
work  them  for  our  sake.  It  belonged  to  his  justice  to 
lavish  them,  so  as  to  throw  divine  light  on  his  humilia- 
tions and  to  aid  our  infirmities.  For  the  deaf  it  needed 
those  signs;  for  the  blind  it  needed  those  touches  ;  for 
the  paralytic  it  required  those  sudden  shocks,  awaken- 
ings.     If   he  had  not  proven   himself  the    master   of 


( 


nature,  they  would  demand  of  him  what  had  he  done 
that  surpassed  the   power  of  man.     Bergier  said  to  the 
\  philosophers  of  the  eighteenth  century,  "  Consider  well, 

and  see  if  your  predecessors  were  not  conquered  by  a 
miracle."  The  objection  against  miracles  "  because 
they  are  not  credible  "  is  ridiculous. 

What  is  a  credible  miracle  ?  They  have  been  pre- 
cisely made  incredible,  so  that  faith  might  accept  them, 
or  be  bound  to  accept  them,  and  so  that  reason  could 

)  not  controvert  them.     A  miracle  is  iriven  to  make  us  be- 

j  to 

;  lieve  something  superadded  to  the  natural  order.     1  he 

man  who  should  pretend  to  comprehend  the  Incar- 
nation without  the  aid  of  miracles  would  be  a  fool, 
quite  as  much  as  he  who  denies  the  existence  of  God. 
Common  sense  laughs  at  philosophers  and  historians 
who  pretend  that  God  cannot  interpose  as  God,  in  the 
affairs  of  this  world,  and  that  man  has  no  need  of  him. 


Jesus  Christ  has  treated  us  better  ;  he  does  not  re- 
quire us  to  surrender  ourselves  to  man,  but  to  God. 
He  has  proven  himself  God,  so  that  our  pride  might  be 
fairly  vanquished.  By  his  miracles  he  has  rendered 
nugatory  for  ever  every  philosophy  that  would  wish  to 

\ 

i 
( 


\  2  6  Preface. 

\ 
exclude  his  divinity,  and  he  has  mercifully  treated   the  ( 

philosophers  themselves,  or  those  "  savants,"  in  letting 

them    know  that    he   is    more  learned    than  they  are. 

When  their  pride  refuses  this  kindness,  they  are  wrong.  ? 

Nevertheless,   his    clemency    proposes    to    them   other 

arguments. 

He   said   to   the   Jews,  "  If  you  do  not  believe  my 

Word,  believe  at  least   my  miracles."     We  say  to-day 

the  same  to  the  incredulous  :   "  If  you  do  not   believe 

the  miracles,  at  least  believe  the  Word."     This  Word 

is  also  a  miracle,  and  the  greatest  of  all  miracles,  which 

we  cannot  gainsay.     The  Word  created  the  miraculous, 

to  rest  thereon;  and  on  that  altitude  which  it  has  made 

accessible    it    dwells,    living   and    creative.       It  is  the 
)  .  ( 

miracle  of  miracles — it  is  God  himself.     We  hear  him  ; 

our  ears,  obstructed  by  the  dust  and  filth  of  the  earth, 

could  not  misunderstand  that  voice,  whose  accent  has 

awakened  man,  and  whose  fecundity  has  created  a  new 

world.     "  The  words  of  Jesus   Christ,"   says    Bossuet, 

"reflect    something  of  the  divine  in  their  simplicity, 

in  their  depth,  by  a  certain  gentle  authority  with  which 

they  issue  forth.     Never  has  man  spoken  like  this  man, 

because  man  has  never  been  God,  like  him.     Nor  has 

man  had  over  all  spirits  that  natural  authority  which 

pertains    to    truth,  and    which  speaks   to   the  soul   so 

sweetly  and   so  intimately." 

But  this  Word,  absolutely  divine — divine  by  its  own 

character,  divine  by  its  effects,  always  subsisting — whose 

should  it  be  if  not  Jesus  Christ's?     Who  should  be  the 

inventor  of  the  wisdom  of  Jesus  Christ  ?    At  a  distance 

of  nearly  two  thousand  years  the  Word  of  Jesus  Christ 

remains  the  only  true  light  of  man  on  himself  and  on 

God.     It  upholds  the  Catholic  world,  encompassed   by 

fanatical  enemies  ;  it  sustains  the  natural   law,  infested 


Preface.  2  7 


and  crushed  by  a  mad  philosophy  ;  it  upholds  human 
reason,  subject  to  madness  and  error  ;  it  not  only  pre- 
serves and  repairs,  but  it  brings  forth  ;  it  begets  both 
priests  and  saints  ;  it  begets  faith,  and  from  the  most 
stony  and  sterile  hearts  it  wrests  admiration  and  love. 
Who  could  have  invented  this  Word  ? 

Against  the  effulgence,  the  power,  and  number  of 
the  miracles  of  Jesus  Christ,  attested  with  so  much 
splendor  and  power,  by  so  great  a  number  of  witnesses, 
no  objection  is  admissible  at  the  tribunal  of  human 
reason.  No  objection  will  be  received  at  the  tribunal 
of  God.  We  are  bound  to  believe  in  miracles.  Let  us, 
however,  suppose  a  possible  refuge  for  doubt  as  to 
facts.  How  will  you  account  for  the  invention  of  the 
Word,  for  the  creation  of  the  doctrine,  and  for  the 
triumph  of  that  doctrine?  Those  witnesses,  so  up- 
right and  sincere,  whom  you  are  anxious  to  suspect 
either  for  not  having  seen  or  for  having  seen  but  im- 
perfectly what  they  relate— how  can  you  suspect  them 
for  not  having  heard  what  they  relate  ?  The}' do  not 
relate  things  which  everybody  may  have  known,  and  j 

which  every  one  would  be  accustomed  to  ponder  on  ; 
but,  on  the  contrary,  they  rejate  what  is  above  and  be- 
yond everything.  They  relate  them,  not  in  the  same 
terms,  but  with  the  same  depth  of  unheard-of  ide 
with  the  same  clearness  of  style  entirely  new,  with  the 
same  accent  of  sovereign  authority  :  all  is  beaming 
with  divine  light,  full  of  prophecy,  radiant,  dazzling, 
with  a  force  from  which  you  cannot  escape.  All  flows 
from  the  Divinity  ;  all  returns  thereto.  Thus,  the  mira- 
cle reappears  in  the  Word,  and  in  its  turn  becomes  the 
Word  divine. 

Yes,  those  miracles  were  given  to  uphold  the  Word 
—they  are  transformed  and  changed,  and  become  the 


28  Freface. 

Word.     Under  those  miracles,  so  hateful  to  science,  as 


( 
f 

a  sap  beneath  the  tree's  bark,  the  divine  germ  lies  hid,  ( 

and  by  the  breath  of  the  Holy  Spirit  it  blossoms 
into  flowers  of  celestial  beauty.  From  these  flowers, 
as   from  the  divine    Word,    an    invigorating    fragrance  ? 

diffuses  itself.  These  physical  impossibilities  teach  us 
the  most  salutary  moral  truths.  Humanity  needs  this 
teaching  ;  it  is  ennobled  or  degraded  according  as  it 
listens  to  or  rejects  it. 

Miracles  are  the  parables  in  action — they  abound  in 
admirable  and  wonderful  thought.  The  larger  portion 
of  them  explain  the  prophecies  and  undoubtedly  prove 
their  fulfilment,  and  also  prophesy  the  future  order. 
They  have  healed  bodies  ;  they  will  for  ever  cure  souls. 
;  They  have  demonstrated  the  almighty  power  and  good- 

ness of  the  Son  of  Man,  and  they  will  for  ever  demon- 


strate the  wisdom  and  knowledge  of  the  Son  of  God. 


may  work  wonderful  cures,  and  restore  health  to  those 
afflicted  with  diseases  almost  incurable;  the  thauma- 
turgus  may  raise  up  the  dead  ;  but  all  that  has  no  influ- 
ence on  the  general  affairs  of  this  world — it  only  shows 
desperate  diseases  cured  by  an  able  man  or  by  a  holy 
man.  Sin  does  not  interrupt  its  works,  infirmity  ceases 
not  to  show  itself,  the  tomb  ceases  not  to  receive  those 
who  raised  the  dead  ;  and  quickly  those  wonderful  men 
disappear,  leaving  behind  them  a  remembrance  soon 
forgotten.  The  remembrance  of  the  man  of  learning 
soon  passes  away;  and  as  for  the  thaumaturgus,  if  it 
please  not  God  to  honor  his  grave  by  the  permanency 
of  miracles,  he  is  soon  forgotten.  So  that  those  things 
so  strange,  wonders  of  science  and  greater  wonders  of 
holiness,  rest  purely  on  facts,  either  absolutely  isolated 
or   suddenly    unfruitful.       But    the    miracles    of  Jesus 


The  physician  of  long  experience  and  deep  erudition 

-v, ...„„1, .,  J f..1      „„J 4. 1 kl.      i._       il 


Preface.  29 


Christ  adhere  to  all  things,  contain  all  things  ;   history 
terminates  in  them  and  flows  from  them  ;  they  possess 


) 
) 

a  vitality  universal  and  immortal  ;  they  arc  resplendent 
with  heavenly  light  ;   they  establish  the  perpetuity  of 


miracles. 

"The  miracles  of  the  Saviour,"  says  St.  Gregory, 
Pope,  "are  real,  and  at  the  same  time  they  serve  to 
teach  us  some  truth.  By  those  acts  of  his  power,  God 
points  out  to  us  certain  things  ;  he  reveals  to  us  from 
them  other  things,  through  the  mysteries  that  his  wis- 
dom has  placed  in  them." 

All  the  facts  of  the  Scripture  are  susceptible  of  four 
different  senses,  equally  true  ;  for  the  profundity  of 
the  Spirit  of  God  is  infinite.  Besides  the  literal  sense, 
there  are,  first,  the  allegorical  sense — by  the  applica- 
tion of  one  fact  to  another  of  which  it  is  the  figure  or 
the  prophecy;  second,  the  tropological  sense — by  the 
application  to  the  wants  of  the  soul  and  to  the  direc- 
tion of  morals;  third,  the  anagogical  sense — by  the 
application  to  the  joys  of  the  celestial  country.  These 
three  senses  constitute  the  spiritual  or  mystical  sense, 
which  places  the  miracles  in   harmony  with  the  whole 


< 
( 
( 


history  of  religion  and  with  the  entire  history  of  hu- 
manity 

The  study  of  the  mystical  sense  has  been  for  a  long 
while  among  us  confined  to  morals — and,  we  may  re- 
mark en  passant,  morals  have  gained  nothing  by  it. 
Morals  flow  much  less  from  the  dogma  which  remains 


obscure  ;  impiety  disputes  the  origin  or  source  of  mo 
rality,  and  destroys  its  savor  and  its  authority.      With- 
out   neglecting  by  any  means  the  moral,   the   Fathers       .      ( 
have  taken  care  to  give  to  the  mystical   sense   its  full 
development.  Their  minds  were  elevated  to  marvellous 
heights;  and  our  minds,  accustomed  to  morality  of  the 

( 
( 


3<d  Preface. 


earth  earthy,  are  astonished  at  following  them  without 
effort  to  those  sublime  regions  which   are  hardly  any 

i  longer  laid  open  to  us,  but  for  which  we  were  made. 

The  little  we  can  in  this  book  borrow  from  the  Fa- 
thers will  clearly  manifest  that  there  are  in  them  good 
arguments  and  solid  instruction.  Joseph  de  Maistre 
says  that  the  human  body  appears  even  more  marvel- 
lous on  the  dissecting-table  than  in  the  most  beautiful 
attitudes  of  life  ;  so  the  anatomy  of  a  miracle  demon- 
strates it  at  once  more  real  and  more  astonishing — the 

) 

power  and  the  wisdom  of  God  are  revealed  more  abun- 

)  dantly  therein. 

In  extending  the  relation  of  the  life  of  Our  Lord  even 


to  the  end  of  the  evangelical  age,  we  have  sketched  the 
last  and  the  greatest  of  miracles,  that  for  which  all  the 
others  have  been  made — the  establishment  of  the 
Church,  a  universal  and  permanent  proof  of  the  divini- 
ty of  Jesus  and  his  love  for  man.  There  should  have 
been  another  chapter,  or,  to  say  better,  a  second  book, 
written — that  is,  to  manifest  our  Lord  actually  living, 
actually  God,  actually  visible.  But  it  is  sufficient  to 
open  our  eyes.  The  Church  is  the  life  of  Jesus  Christ 
continued.  Through  the  Church  the  God-Man  dwells 
in  the  world  with  that  same  character  of  human  infirm- 
ity and  divine  power  which  expresses  the  union  of  the  ' 
two  natures.  There  is  accomplished  in  her  the  same 
works  of  man,  the  same  works  of  God — Man  suffering, 
God  conquering.  Fie  is  at  Bethlehem,  at  Samaria,  at 
the  Last  Supper,  among  the  throng  at  Tabor,  and  on 
Calvary.  He  is  listened  to  and  denied,  glorified  and 
insulted,  followed  and  betrayed.  All  his  friends  turn 
away  from  him  ;  all  his  adversaries  and  all  his  enemies 
remain. 

He  also  is  there  whom  the  Scripture  calls   liar.      It 


i 


Preface.  3 1 

has  been  said  to  others,   "You    belong  to  him."     His 
lineage  pretend  not  to  know  him,  and  say  that  he  does  ( 

not    exist.       He    does    exist,    and    his    lineage    know 

( 

him   and   do   his  works.     The  existence  and  influence 


of  Satan  alone  can  account  for  a  strange  phenomenon, 
most  capable  of  bewildering  the  human  intellect. 
During  a  period  of  nearly  nineteen  centuries  Jesus  has 
been  profusely  lavishing  his  mercies,  and  he  is  always 
insulted,  declared  worthy  of  death,  hated — in  fact,  per 


this  time,  in  which  he  cites  the  oracles  who  call  Jesus 


precisely  the  oracles  which  they  pronounce  nowadays 
in   learned   societies.     It   is   curious   to   see   our  unbe- 


) 

msuiicu,  utwiiitu    nuniiy   ui  ucciLii,  iiaicu in   ldCL,  jjci- 

sonally  hated.  No  one  can  deny  this  frightful  prodigy. 
How  comes  it?  Science  will  not  answer.  The  Gospel 
answers,  and  Satan  confirms  the  response  by  his  per- 
petual endeavors  to  obscure  the  divinity  of  Jesus 
Christ.  St.  Augustine  opportunely  applies  this  expres- 
sion of  the  Scripture  to  Porphyry:  "  Impii  in  circui- 
tu  ambulant  " — "  The  wicked  circle  round  and  round," 
because  they  are  turning  and  moving  round  in  a  laby- 
rinth of  errors,  always  retracing  their  steps.  Porphy- 
ry, an  apostate,  pretended  to  honor  Jesus  Christ  very 
much.  He  wrote  a  book  entitled  Philosophy  by  the 
Oracles,  in  the  latest  style  of  "  the  modern  science  "  of 


) 
S 

Christ  a  pious  man  and  worthy  of  immortality,  and  the 
Christians,   on  the  contrary,   impure  men.     These  are 


( 

! 

I 
( 

lievers  either  copy  the  old   follies  of  Porphyry  or  re- 

1 


ceive  exactly  the  same  inspiration  of  mind  which 
"  goes  turning  around  "  ;  and  all  this  to  show  themselves 
such  as  they  are  depicted  or  portrayed  in  the  Holy 
Scriptures,  and  to  hurl  against  God  himself  the  cry, 
"  We  do  not  wish  to  know  your  ways  ;  we  do  not  desire 
to  know  the  knowledge  of  your  commandments;  scien- 
tiam  viarum  tuarum  nolumus." 


structed,  and  instructed  as  we  should  be,  infidelity 
would  feel  the  necessity  of  studying  itself  more,  and  the 
half-science  which  alienates,  acknowledging  its  insuffi- 
ciency, would  become  the  true  science  which  converts. 


32  Preface, 

But  the  science  of  the  ways  of  God  is  the  knowledge  ( 

of  Jesus  Christ,  and  this  knowledge  is  nowadays  fai 
more  indispensable  than  ever.  ( 

This  book  is  written  to  mark  out  for  souls  a  serene 
asylum    in  these   unhappy  times    which    are   come    to  [ 

us.     They  will   find   in  it   all    the   remaining  strength,  / 

consolation,  and  happiness  of  earth.  For  the  conspiracy 
that  we  behold  raising  itself  up  against  Jesus  Christ  is 
a  conspiracy  against  the  human  race — a  conspiracy  to 
enslave  it  and  to  degrade  it.  And  whoever  will  not 
acknowledge  and  love  Jesus  Christ  will  be  crushed,  en- 
slaved, and  degraded. 

But  whether  society  escapes  the  danger  or  falls  a 
victim  to  it,  Christians  are  bound  nowadays  to  com- 
prehend the  obligation  which  is  imposed  on  them  of 
being  better  instructed.  We  do  not  sufficiently  know 
how  much  God  is  God — that  is  to  say,  how  good,  how 
great,  and  how  beautiful  he  is.  In  Christianity  the  in- 
comparable sublimity  and  solidity  of  its  moral  code 
astonish  less,  enrapture  .less,  than  the  solidity  and  sub- 
limity of  the  dogma  which  renders  not  only  possible, 
but  easy,  the  practice  of  that  morality,  so  elevated.  There 
is  the  life-giver,  the  infinite,  the  incommunicable.  In  the 
mystery  of  Jesus  we  behold  God.  The  splendor  of 
that  brightness  surpasses  all  expression.  We  are 
guilty  towards  God  and  towards  ourselves  for  the  neg- 
ligence which  keeps  us  back  so  far  from  the  wonders 
with  which  he  has  taken  care  to  surround  us.  This 
negligence  is  a  considerable  and  personal  part  taken  by 
us   in   the  crimes   of   unbelief.     If  we  were    more   in- 


The  object  of  this  work  will  be  attained  among-  those 
readers  who  are  resolved  to  advance  the  study  of  re- 
ligion. The  Acts  of  the  Apostles  have  preserved  to  us 
the  touching  history  of  that  man  of  good-will  who 
travelled  alone  along  the  desert  road,  reading  a  chapter 
from  Isaias,  which  he  understood  not.  Jesus  sent  him 
an  interpreter,  and,  whilst  the  interpreter  was  yet  speak- 
ing to  him,  as  they  were  passing  near  a  fountain,  the 
man  of  good-will  said  :  "  Behold,  here  is  water  ;  what  is 
there  to  prevent  me  from  being  baptized?"  The  men 
of  good-will  are  numerous  on  the  road  of  this  world. 
Jesus  takes  care  to  convey  to  them  the  Word,  which  is 
enough.  If  this  Word  only  be  found  in  these  pages, 
the  writer  will  have  rendered  back  what  was  given  him. 

It  would  be  superfluous  to  accumulate  notes  in  this 
book,  which  sincerity  addresses  to  sincerity.  We  quote 
accurately,  without  marking  the  texts  of  the  Fathers  or 
other  interpreters,  often  uniting  in  one  phrase  two  or 
three  texts  for  the  sake  of  rapidity.  These  citations, 
properly  speaking,  form  the  entire  work.  On  a  sub- 
ject like  this  the  author,  or  rather  the  translator, 
would  have  feared  to  produce  his  own  ideas,  when  he 
had  those  of  so  many  of  the  saints  and  great  men.  He 
has  taken  the  idea,  and  often  the  expression,  and  per- 
haps not  an  entire  page  belongs  to  him. 

As  to  a  certain  malicious  book  which  unhappily  sig- 
nalizes the  age  in  which  we  live,  we  have  been  obliged 
to  refer  to  it  two  or  three  times.  We  could  have 
wished  not  to  touch  on  it.  The  first  sentiments  of 
Catholics  on  this  deplorable  book  have  become  much 
modified  since  they  have  been  enabled  to  perceive  more 
exactly  the  malicious  industry  of  the  author.  While 
we  see  him  assume  the  task  of  ignoring,  we  are  con- 
vinced he  is  yet  far  from  having  lost,  the  faith.      He 


34  Deface. 

dare  not  look  upon  the  crucifix  face  to  face — he  would 
tear  to  see  the  blood  trickling  down.  In  his  conscience 
he  declares  himself  a  traitor.  This  is  the  confession 
which  we  read  in  his  book,  turned  resolutely  away 
from  the  light  of  day.  We  blame  this  miserable  man, 
and  we  detest  and  abhor  his  crime  ;  but  he  is  to  be 
pitied,  and  every  Christian  will  be  happy  to  say  to  him 
what  Ananias  said  to  Saul:  "My  brother  Saul,  the 
Lord  Jesus,  who  appeared  to  you  on  the  road  ivhence  you 
are  coming,  has  sent  me  to  meet  you,  so  that  you  may 
receive  your  sight." 

O  living  Christ  !  those  who  deny  you  will  behold 
you.  May  they,  in  this  time  of  your  clemency,  im- 
plore your  pardon,  which  is  always  offered  to  them  ! 
May  those  be  entrapped  in  the  gentle  snares  of  your 
mercies  who  conspire  to  lead  others  from  the  paths  of 
light  and  pardon  !  This  is  the  profound  and  sincere  de- 
sire of  a  Christian  soul  that  is  terrified  at  their  danger  ; 
that  mourns  over  them,  and  does  not  feel  the  need  of 
accusing  them.  At  the  supreme  tribunal,  what  accuser 
will  those  guilty  ones  find  more  implacable,  more  unre- 
lenting, than  themselves? 

Ascension  Day,  1864. 


1       1  ■   »■       1       1  11  «mu  iim'i  1 


INTRODUCTION. 


i. 


GOD   AND    MAN. 


THERE  are  in  the  Gospel  two  personages — God 
and  man.  The  place  that  man  holds  therein 
is  scarcely  lowor  than  that  of  God.  It  is  for  man's  sake 
God  descended  from  heaven  ;  it  is  on  his  account  the 
uncreated  Spirit  clothes  himself  with  the  weight  of  the 
flesh  ;  it  is  for  him  the  Infinite  circumscribes  himself 
in  that  prison  ;  for  him  that  purity  itself  assumes  the 
semblance  of  guilt  ;  for  him  the  Immortal  comes  to 
taste  death,  the  death  of  the  cross.  Man  is  the  object 
of  this  inconceivable  love. 

Presently,  we  will  direct  our  thoughts  to  God  ;  but, 
first,  What  is  man  ? 

According  to  the  latter-day  science,  he  is  an  animal 
who  has  invented  God  :  "  When  man  began  to  be 
distinguished  from  the  animal,  he  became  religious." 
This  stroke  of  science  expresses  the  mother-thought 
of  a  book  purposely  written  to  destroy  the  belief  in  the 
Godhead  of  Jesus  Christ — a  sure  means  of  ruining  re- 
ligion and  reason,  and  of  making  man  what  science 
pretends  he  is — an  animal. 

33 


36 


Introduction. 


Science  deceives  itself:  man  had  no  difficulty  in  be- 
coming religious;  he  was  so  from  the  beginning,  hav- 
ing known,  first  of  all,  the  God  who  created  him.  It 
would  therefore  be  more  correct  to  say  that  as  soon 
as  man  ceases  to  be  religious,  that  moment  he  is  no 
longer  perfectly  distinguished  from  the  animal.  For 
it  is  the  mark  of  the  animal-man  not  to  discern  the 
things  of  God. 

But  this  sublime  quality  of  being  religious  by  nature 
does  not  make  us  sufficiently  know  man.  Why  is  man 
religious?  What  does  he  know  naturally  of  God? 
What  does  he  know  even  of  himself?  All  he  learns  by 
contemplating  himself  and  others  is  obscure,  the  sub- 
ject of  hopeless  doubt  and  shame.  Is  he  only  an  atom 
in  the  abyss  of  space  ?  Has  he  alone  a  full  knowledge 
of  his  being  ?  And  yet  he  thinks  himself  great — and 
this  feeling  is  just  ;  but  whence  does  he  derive  the  sen- 
timent of  his  greatness  ? 

The  individual  knows  what  day  he  has  entered  into 
life  ;  does  he  know  truly  that  on  which  he  has  commenc- 
ed to  live  ?  No  more  than  he  knows  that  day  on  which 
he  will  die  ;  and  he  dies  without  knowing  at  what 
moment  he  began  to  live.  Between  those  two  dates 
of  his  birth  and  of  his  death,  and  in  the  short  space 
of  time  he  has  lived,  he  is  born  many  times,  he  has 
lived  many  lives  quite  diverse  ;  and  he  asks  himself  if 
he  has  ever  existed.  He  walks,  he  speaks,  he  thinks, 
and  he  takes  his  part  on  the  stage  of  life.  Nevertheless, 
he  is  dying  repeatedly  and  of  many  deaths,  and  he 
feels  it  sensibly  ;  and  he  also  knows  that  he  will  never 
die. 

Man  is  finite,  and  he  cannot  look  on  himself  without 
acknowledging  it — so  finite,  so  circumscribed,  that  he 
hardly  knows  whether  he  exists  or  not.      His  thought 


Introduction.  37 

--that  subtle  and  ready  instrument  which  serves  him 
even  when  all  his  faculties  refuse  to  serve  him — here 
fails  him,  becomes  stupefied  and  wandering,  doubts 
itself,  and  makes  him  doubt  himself.  It  is  but  a 
nothingness  amid  nothing.  And  it  is  this  evidence  of 
the  nothingness  of  man  that  becomes  the  last  refuge 
from  which  thought  deliberately  infers  its  own  ex- 
istence. It  exists,  because  it  cannot  invent  itself, 
because  it  experiences  a  difficulty  in  knowing  itself. 

Nevertheless,  this  finite  being,  so  miserable,  so  vile, 
is  the  work  of  the  Infinite  Being,  and  in  the  work  there 
is  something  of  the  Worker,  something  of  the  Infinite. 
Behold,  herein  what  a  wonder  of  thought  !  Man,  cir- 
cumscribed on  every  side,  is  nevertheless  everywhere. 
The  sluggishness  and  infirmity  of  his  body  cannot  ar- 
rest the  flight  of  thought.  It  roams  ;  he  is  with  it 
wherever  it  goes.  Space  is  opened  out  before  it,  time 
is  at  its  command  ;  and  yet  it  breaks  through  the  limits 
of  space  and  time.  This  being,  who  finds  it  difficult 
to  place  himself  in  the  present,  who  asks  himself  if  he 
exists — this  being,  placed  between  moments  of  time, 
one  of  which  is  no  more,  and  the  other  never  has  been, 
lived  nevertheless  before  his  birth  through  his  ances- 
tors, and  he  will  live  furthermore  after  his  death  through 
his  descendants — above  all,  by  his  works,  a  numberless 
offspring  born  to  die  no  more.  Before  him,  all  has 
been  made  for  him,  all  has  contributed  to  form  the 
term  in  which  he  must  live  ;  he  has  some  part  in  all 
that  shall  come  after  him.  Captive,  he  has  wings  al- 
ways free,  and  the  eye  of  the  eagle  cannot  penetrate 
so  high  the  starry  heavens  as  he  can  soar  ;  blind,  he 
sees  the  light  of  day  beyond  the  sun,  and  in  darkness  far 
beyond  that  of  the  shades  of  night  ;  his  mental  vision 
reaches    further    than    the    horizon  ;    ashes,    yesterday 


38 


Introduction. 


without  a  name,  to-morrow  without  a  remembrance  ; 
imperceptible  on  this  earth,  lost  amid  starry  atoms,  he 
is  himself  but  as  a  flash  of  lightning  in  the  course  of 
time,  which  is  not  a  flash  in  the  duration  of  eternity; 
nevertheless,  living  in  the  first  man,  he  is  in  fact  as 
ancient  as  time,  and  he  will  yet  live  when  time  is  no 
more.  When  God  said,  "  Let  us  make  man  to  our 
image  and  likeness,"  that  very  moment  he  was  born. 
Is  that  his  true,  real  birth?  Not  at  all.  God  pro- 
nounced these  words,  and  he  fulfilled  them  at  the  mo- 
ment marked  out  in  his  wise  purposes  ;  but  his  designs 
were  in  him  from  eternity. 

Thus  must  he  reflect  :  "  Created  in  time,  but  con- 
ceived in  eternity,  I  am  created  for  eternity.  I  will 
never  die,  and  I  know  it,  because  I  am  the  work  of 
God  ;  and  the  works  of  God  are  never  made  to  perish. 
Matter,  to  which  my  soul  is  not  united,  is  nothing. 
It  is  to  the  creation  what  my  garments  are  to  the  body. 
This  body  even  is  not  mine.  It  is  as  the  clothing 
which  is  used  and  which  is  changed.  I  have  repeatedly 
changed  my  clothing  ;  over  and  over  again  I  have 
changed  my  body.  Where  is  the  body  of  my  infancy  ? 
Where  is  the  flower  and  strength  of  my  youth  ?  All 
that  is  dead  ;  as  dead  as  the  perfumes  and  sounds  that 
course  through  the  air.  What  remains  of  the  grass  of 
the  house-tops?  True  creation,  that  which  is  imper- 
ishable, is  the  creation  made  to  the  image  of  God. 
That  has  received  perfection  from  its  origin,  and  will 
never  perish. 

Thus  God  by  his  divine  power  placed  in  death  eter- 
nity ;  in  the  mutable,  immutability  ;  in  the  finite,  the 
image  of  the  Infinite. 

Behold,  here  is  man — not  in  his  entirety,  nor  even  in 
the  degree  in  which  it  is  given   him  to   know  himself, 


n 


Introduction.  39 

since  I  do  not  speak  of  the  treasures  and  burning  love 
of  his  heart.  And  was  this  being  originally  created  an 
animal  only,  like  to  those  who  were  created  to  serve 
him,  and  who  do  not  think  ?  And  was  he  to  grovel 
among  that  unreasoning  throng  until  he  had  learned 
how  to  ''distinguish  "  himself  from  them  by  becoming 
religious — that  is  to  say,  by  inventing  thought  and 
by  creating  God  ? 

This  is  an  old  trick  of  "  science  " — to  debase  man  to 
this  degree,  and  to  place  him  at  the  very  start  in  the 
rank  of  the  animal,  and  even  lower.  It  inflates  his 
pride  afterwards  by  the  consideration  of  what  he  can 
do  to  free  himself  from  his  infirmity,  and  thereby  it: 
persuades  him  that  he  is  only  dependent  on  himself  foi 
all  his  greatness.  "  See  now  how  you  have  been  able 
to  ascend,"  it  says  to  him.  "  Do  not  check  your  pro- 
gress ;  disengage  yourself  more  and  more  from  the 
bonds  of  your  infancy,  and  rise  higher  still  ;  and  you 
will  be  a  God — you  will  be  the  only  God." 

This  is  what  we  call  "  the  modern  spirit."  It  does 
not  date  from  yesterday,  because  this  is  the  language 
of  Satan,  written  on  the  first  page  of  human  his- 
tory. 

It  is  good  to  recall  to  man  that  the  hand  of  God  has 
formed  his  body,  as  the  breath  of  God  has  given  him 
a  soul. 

Animal,  indeed,  by  matter,  and  miserable,  if  we  judge 
him  from  his  grosser  part,  nevertheless  man  is  born 
the  most  powerful  and  the  best  constituted  of  animals. 
He  is  a  long  time,  some  say,  helpless  in  his  swaddling 
clothes;  a  long  time  incapable  of  going  where  necessi- 
ty calls,  of  comprehending  the  danger  that  threatens 
him,  of  flying  from  the  danger  which  he  does  not  un- 
derstand. But  those  who  speak  thus  do  not  wish  to  un- 


derstand  how  God  has  made  man.  Man  is  better  mailed 
than  the  tortoise,  more  powerful  than  the  lion,  more 
swift  than  the  bounding  stag,  than  the  eagle  soaring  in 
the  heavens,  than  the  swimming  shark.  Give  to  this 
animal  his  true  name  :  he  is  social.  He  is  such  from  his 
cradle,  and  there  more  than  anywhere  else.  He  only 
becomes  an  individual  when  he  can  see  danger  and 
prevent  it,  and  defend  himself  against  it  and  conquer 
it.  In  the  cradle  he  has  his  father,  he  has  his  mother  ; 
he  is  surrounded  by  all  the  vigilance,  all  the  strength, 
all  the  knowledge  of  society.  The  question  is  not  to 
know  what  he  is  able  to  do  if  he  be  left  alone  :  he  is 
not  alone;  by  the  very  law  of  his  nature  he  cannot  be 
alone.  He  comes  into  the  world  endowed  with  the 
power  of  society,  far  more  than  the  lion  with  his  mus- 
cles or  the  eagle  with  its  talons.  Even  in  a  rude,  sa- 
vage state,  he  yet  appears  the  king  of  creation.;  and 
the  savage  state  is  not  the  normal  state  of  man.  Man 
is  social  ;  his  normal  state  is  that  embryo  of  perfect 
order  we  call  civilization.  He  is  slow  in  improving 
himself,  in  polishing  and  cultivating  his  moral  and 
mental  qualities.  It  matters  not,  since  all  the  resources 
of  society  are  employed  to  improve  him.  And  society 
will  form,  regulate,  and  polish  him  ;  it  will  teach  him 
to  master  fire  and  air  ;  to  subdue  the  rushing  torrent, 
and  even  control  the  flashing  lightning;  to  make  himself 
clothes  warmer  than  the  fleece  of  the  sheep,  more  im- 
pervious than  the  downy  feathers  of  the  birds;  to  build 
himself  mansions  that  will  brave  the  storms  ;  to  earn 
his  bread  from  the  fields;  and  to  surround  himself  with 
comforts.  Such  is  this  feeble  animal  ;  and  he  will  go 
far  beyond — he  will  learn  to  live  in  the  past  and  in  the 
future,  and  to  dwell  on  earth  when  he  will  be  no 
more. 


Introduction. 


And  that  he  may  not  be  tempted  to  refuse  the  joys 
and  pleasures  of  mortal  life,  that  he  may  not  isolate 
himself,  in  which  state  he  would  indeed  be  the  most 
destitute  of  all  animals,  the  necessity  of  life  obliges  him 
to  remain  in  society — that  is  to  say,  in  a  state  which 
gives  him  superiority  over  all  creatures.  He  only  is 
deprived  of  his  royalty  at  death.  I  comprehend  what 
he  calls  death,  since,  not  being  created  for  death,  he 
cannot  die.  For  good  or  evil,  his  power  is  limited  to 
change  of  life  alone. 

Notwithstanding,  man's  education  is  rude.  It  need 
be  so  for  the  general  welfare  and  his  own  advantage. 
This  king  has  need  to  acknowledge  his  feebleness  and 
>  his  dependence.      In   the   presence   of  this   necessity, 

behold  the  wisdom  and  affection  of  God.  Child  and 
youth,  man  is  provided  with  a  hidden  strength  that 
enables  him  to  support,  without  being  bowed  down 
and  remaining  in  that  posture,  the  burdens  Providence 
may  load  him  with.  Youth  possesses  an  interior  buoy- 
ancy that  makes  labor  pleasant,  subjection,  grief,  trou- 
bles, and  hardships  endurable — things  so  difficult  to  bear 
later  on,  and  which  would  crush  him  if  the  weight  was 
the  same  from  the  first  starting  into  life.  Youth  sur- 
mounts the  elements  of  everything.  The  past  is  to 
him  nothing;  he  flies  towards  the  future,  where  he  is 
sure  of  reigning.  Tombstones  rise  up  before  his  path 
— he  hardly  stops  to  notice  them  ;  he  dashes  them  in 
pieces,  and  he' dreams  of  them  no  more.  Death  !  It  is 
not  for  him  ;  it  will  not  injure  him  ;  it  shall  not  take 
from  him  the  future  ;  it  will  not  prevent  him  from  ex- 
isting, acting,  and  having  what  he  would  wish  !  If  sud- 
denly death  presents  itself  and  stretches  out  its  hand, 
he  is  astonished.  "  Take  me,"  he  says  ;  and  he  dies, 
as  he  does  other  things.     This  life,  so   full   of  reveries 


42  Introduction. 

wherein  he  sees  himself  master  of  all,  is  yet  but  a  sport 
which  he  leaves  off  without  regret. 

But  in  this  wonderful  being  what  inexplicable  de- 
fects, what  inexplicable  miseries!  There  are  two 
indispensable  secrets  which  he  does  not  possess  and 
which  he  cannot  acquire.  It  is  necessary  that  God 
should  reveal  them  to  him.  Abandoned  to  himself, 
he  feels  a  horrible  incapacity  of  knowing  and  loving. 
Darkness  envelops  his  mind — a  brazen  wall  repels  his 
heart.  Whence  comes  he  ?  Where  is  he  going?  What 
power  has  thrown  him  into  life,  to  be  at  war  with  men  ? 
For  society  rears  him  up  in  vain  ;  in  vain  is  ït  indispen- 
sable to  him  ;  there  is  no  natural  love  between  him  and 
society.     It  does  not  love  him,  it  does  not  respect  him  ;  ) 

he  does  not  respect  it,  he  does  not  love  it.  On  both 
sides  he  sees  but  services  imposed  by  necessity,  rules  by 
force — no  respect,  no  love  ;  and  his  urgent  want  is  love- 
Behold  the  immense  misery  of  this  creature,  so  beau- 
tiful, and  formed  with  so  much  care!  Man  does  not 
know  God,  and  he  does  not  love  man.  What  do  I  say  ? 
He  does  not  love  him  ;  he  passionately  hates  him.  lie 
overwhelms  him  with  delights  ;  and  by  his  frenzy  all 
the  charms  of  society  are  for  him  changed  into  bitter- 
ness, and  its  advantages  into  tortures  ;  he  finds  in  it 
but  hatred  and  tyranny.  This  king  of  creation,  this 
conqueror  of  all  terrestrial  beings,  capable  of  resisting 
every  shock,  who  hunts  the  wild  beasts  of  the  forest 
and  rebuilds  his  cities  on  the  soil  of  the  volcano — he 
encounters  an  enemy  who  humbles  him,  binds  him, 
chains  and  kills  him.  And  this  enemy  is  man  !  Is 
that  the  primal  design  ?  Is  it  thus  man  has  been 
created?  No;  we  feel  there  is  disorder,  immense  dis- 
order, not  to  be  repaired  by  human  power,  which  gives 
us  to  understand  that  man  is  a  wreck. 


Introduction.  43 

Whence  comes  this  disorder?  Why  is  man  but  a 
wreck?  What  will  those  answer  who  say  that  he  be- 
comes religious  when  he  distinguishes  himself  from  the 
animal — that  is  to  say,  when  he  invents  a  God  ;  that  is 
to  say  again,  that  God  is  a  chimera  of  man,  and  that 
there  is  no  Creator,  no  God  ? 

It  matters  little  what  they  reply.  We  have  nothing 
to  do  with  it  here.  The  existence  of  man  is  the  first 
and  decisive  proof  of  the  existence  of  God.  Man  has 
not  created  himself.  Who  has  created  him,  if  not  God  ? 
And  if  we  wish  a  definition  of  God,  it  is  found  in  the 
symbol  of  the  Apostles,  developed  against  the  folly  of 
those  who  deny  the  Nicene  Creed:  "  Father  Almighty, 
Creator  of  heaven  and  earth,  of  all  things  visible  and 
invisible."  Behold,  in  a  few  words,  the  clear  conception 
of  a  power  and  of  a  wisdom  without  bounds  !  For  from 
what  has  God  created  all  things?  From  nothing,  un- 
less we  suppose  matter  pre-existing  and  coeternal  with 
God.  Those  who  pretend  not  to  be  able  to  compre- 
hend God  creating  all  things  out  of  nothing  flatter 
themselves  that  they  comprehend  matter,  inert  matter, 
either  eternal  or  self-creating,  and  afterwards  creating 
order  and  intelligence. 

If  it  be  impossible  to  comprehend  how  matter  could 
have  created  order  and  intelligence,  it  is  also  impossi- 
ble to  comprehend  how  God,  sovereign  and  perfect  in- 
telligence, could  have  created  man  otherwise  than 
through  love,  or  to  ask  of  him  aught  else  than  love. 
Every  other  explanation  degrades  God,  and  makes  him 
inferior  to  man  in  justice  and  goodness,  declares  him  im- 
potent in  the  midst  of  this  creation,  which  is  his  work. 

But  to  lower  God  is  to  annihilate  him  in   the  thought 

)  • 

of  man,  who  ceases  then   to   adore- — that  is,  to  know — - 

him  ;    and    by  this   deprivation   of   God,   thought    and 


44 


Introduction. 


man  himself  are  annihilated.  He  remains  but  a  dis- 
contented and  intelligent  animal,  who  gives  and  re- 
ceives hatred,  who  engenders  and  undergoes  death. 

God  is  love,  and  love  is  life.  A  continual  expansion 
of  the  love  of  God,  which  is  the  uncreated  life,  con- 
tinually creates  life.  All  life  created  of  God  is  good 
and  perfect  in  its  order,  is  endowed  with  beauty,  and 
gives  something  which  is  the  support  of  another  life. 
The  more  the  being  is  elevated,  the  more  he  receives 
and  diffuses  life.  The  perfection  of  life  is  the  know- 
ledge and  love  of  the  Creator;  the  perfection  of  love  is 
adoration. 

Created  through  love  to  know  perfectly  and  to  love 
perfectly,  according  to  the  hierarchy  of  his  nature  ; 
created  by  the  Sovereign  Good  to  ascend  up  to  the 
abundance  of  life,  which  is  adoration — man,  a  work 
sublime,  has  received  the  sublime  complement  of 
liberty.  With  liberty  he  combats,  he  merits,  he  has 
something  in  him  to  raise  himself  up  to  the  love-  of 
God,  to  recompense  God  for  having  given  him  being. 
Thereby  also  he  has  it  in  his  power  to  separate  him- 
self from  God,  to  withdraw  from  him,  and  to  deny 
him.  He  has  this  choice.  As  the  last  mark  of  the 
Almighty  power,  he  has  given  man  the  power  of  deny- 
ing him. 

Loving,  he  is  bound  to  obey,  for  obedience  is  the 
law  and  form  of  love  ;  free,  he  is  at  liberty  to  disobey, 
to  violate  the  law,  to  refuse  to  love. 

Already  God  had  encountered  rebellion  :  before  the 
visible  creation,  a  combat  had  taken  place  in  heaven. 
Among  the  innumerable  angels  there  were  cohorts 
rebellious.  A  party  of  those  pure  spirits,  created  to 
adore,  permitting  pride  to  be  born  in  them,  separated 
themselves  from  God,  lost  love  and  light,  and  became 


Introduction.  45 

demons  incapable  of  repenting.  According  to  a  high 
doctrine,  the  anticipation  of  the  revealing  of  the 
Word's  incarnation,  by  whom  they  had  been  created, 
was  the  cause  of  their  revolt.  In  advance,  they  re- 
fused adoration  to  the  Word  of  God — the  Word-God — 
when  it  should  have  become  Jesus  ;  that  is  to  say,  when 
it  should  have  been  clothed  with  the  infirmity,  the 
lowliness,  of  mortal  flesh.  The  mystery  of  divine  love 
surpassed  their  intelligence  ;  the  condition  of  man,  this 
new  creature,  in  many  respects  above  them,  whom  it 
was  necessary  everywhere  to  adore  in  Jesus,  excited 
their  envy.  The  rebellious  angels  were  precipitated 
into  the  bottomless  abyss.  Then  evil  began  to  exist, 
as  evil  for  ever,  as  a  power  for  a  time — the  power  of 
seduction,  dreadful  to  man,  but  less  powerful  than 
man  when  he  wishes  to  obey  God. 

Tempted  by  the  devil,  man  disobeyed.  He  violated 
the  law  of  love,  he  refused  love,  he  preferred  disorder, 
confusion,  and  death.  And  if  man  commenced,  not 
by  confounding  himself  with  the  animal,  but  by  dis- 
tinguishing himself  from  it  less  than  he  ought,  and 
thus  assuming  some  one  of  those  hideous  traits  of  the 
brute  which  philosophy  is  pleased  to  acknowledge  in 
him — traits  that  God  had  not  given  him — it  was  on  that 
day  of  disobedience  he  did  so.  That  day,  ashamed  of 
his  nakedness,  he  sought  to  conceal  it,  and  he  got  a 
garment  made  of  the  skins  of  beasts — a  symbol  of 
mortality. 

In  the  eyes  of  science,  that  denies  God  and  man, 
that  inauspicious  day  should  be  the  first  date  of  pro- 
gress, the  first  step  of  man  towards  the  religious  sense. 
Alas  !  that  day  but  marks  the  day  of  his  death.  Driven 
out  of  paradise,  chased  from  the  delights  of  an  innocent, 
angelic  life,  hurled  from  the  clear,  bright  presence  of 


Introduction, 


God,  his  creator,  he  sinks  into  the  depths  of  human 
darkness.  He  did  not  commence  to  become  religious, 
but,  by  an  effect  of  the  divine  mercy,  he  cannot  cease 
to  be  so.  It  is  said  that  the  last  objects  which  are 
depicted  before  the  eyes  of  the  living  being  at  the 
moment  that  death  seizes  him  remain  engraved  on 
the  soul,  and  can  never  be  effaced  ;  so,  on  the  thresh- 
old of  those  long  and  dismal  ages  of  ignorance,  obscur- 
ity, and  darkness,  wherein  he  was  plunged  by  his  own 
fault,  man  carries  away  an  indelible  vision,  radiant  of 
Paradise,  and  his  soul  does  not  cease  to  give  back  some 
imperfect  echo  of  the  great  things  that  it  had  known 
and  the  promises  that  made  it  expect  a  Redeemer. 
Here,  at  that  far-off,  far-distant  period,  the  grace  of 
Christ  appears  ;  it  will  be  renewed  in  signs  and  sym- 
bols without  number  till  the  days  of  the  ineffable  re- 
ality. 

Let  us  resume. 

Man  could  not  sin  without  being  free,  else  God  could 
not  have  been  offended.  The  All-powerful  could  not 
exact  the  fulness  of  love  of  a  being  without  liberty. 
What  constitutes  the  gift  is  the  power  of  refusing  it. 
God  could  neither  deceive  himself  to  the  point  of  ex- 
acting of  his  creature,  as  a  free  offering,  what  he  had 
not  given  him  ;  nor  punish  that  creature  for  a  defect  of 
the  organization  which  it  received  from  him.  An  error 
and  injustice  in  God,  an  improvident  God,  a  God  not 
only  without  mercy  but  without  justice,  are  palpable 
absurdities. 

If  God  had  loved  sinful  man  less,  not  having  to  de- 
stroy him  as  a  work  badly  made,  he  would  have  crush- 
ed it  as  a  rebellious  work. 

Because  his  work  is  conformable  to  his  plans,  he 
has  preserved  it  ;  because  it  is  intelligent  and  free,  and 


Introduction. 

because  it  has  prevaricated  voluntarily,  he  has  punished 
it  ;  because  he  has  loved  it  with  an  eternal  love,  he 
has  repaired  it. 

At  the  sacrifice  of  the  altar,  the  priest,  having  poured 
the  wine  into  the  chalice  which  shall  be  changed  into 
the  precious  blood  of  Jesus  Christ,  mingles  therewith 
a  few  drops  of  water,  which  represent  our  human- 
ity assumed  by  the  Saviour,  and  he  pronounces  those 
astonishing  words  :  "  O  my  God  !  who  hast  wonder- 
fully created  man  in  a  state  so  noble,  and  yet  more 
wonderfully  thou  hast  reinstated  him  in  his  former 
dignity,  grant  us,  through  the  mystery  of  this  water 
and  this  wine,  one  day  to  have  a  share  in  the  divinity 
of  Him  who  has  deigned  to  clothe  himself  with  our 
humanity — Jesus  Christ,  your  Son,  our  Lord." 

God,  therefore,  has  restored  his  fallen  creature,  and  he 

has  confided  the  redemption  to  this  Word  by  whom  he 

has  created  mankind — this  Word  which  "  is  in  him  from 

)  the  beginning;  begotten,  not  made  ;  by  whom  all  things 

have  been  made,  and  without  whom  nothing  was  made  ( 


that  was  made."  The  Word  becomes  incarnate,  and 
has  taken  the  form  and  weight  of  sin  ;  charges  itself 
with  death,  whieh  was  the  punishment  of  sin  ;  and  by 
his  sacrifice  satisfies  at  once  justice  and  love,  restores 
life,  and  abolishes  death.  And  "the  Word  was  God  "  ; 
for  who  else  but  God  could  repair  the  work  of  God, 
satisfy  the  justice  of  God,  sovereignly  accomplish  the 
objects  of  God's  love  ? 

Man  understood  those  things  which  enlighten  his 
reason  and  give  him  the  key  of  his  own  mystery. 
He  has  known  them,  not  as  having  discovered  them, 
but  because  they  have  been  revealed  to  him  by  the 
divine  Word,  and  afterward  explained  under  the  dic- 
tation of  that  Word,  whose  voice  is  never  silent.     Be- 


48 


Introduction. 


hold  here  what  was  written  towards  the  end  of  the 
first  century  of  the  Christian  era,  more  than  eighteen 
hundred  years  ago,  by  a  man  who  had  been  a  poor  fisher- 
man on  the  Lake  of  Tiberias.  Here  he  speaks  as  the  pro- 
phet, as  the  witness,  as  the  historian — he  who  reclined 
his  head  on  the  bosom  of  Jesus.  Thus  he  speaks  :  "  In 
the  beginning  was  the  Word,  and  the  Word  was  with 
God,  and  the  Word  was  God.  The  same  was  in  the 
beginning  with  God.  All  things  were  made  by  him  : 
and  without  him  was  made  nothing  that  was  made. 
In  him  was  life  ;  and  the  light  was  the  light  of  men  : 
and  the  light  shineth  in  darkness  ;  and  the  darkness 
did  not  comprehend  it.  .  .  .  That  was  the  true 
light,  which  enlighteneth  every  man  that  cometh  into 
this  world.  He  was  in  the  world,  and  the  world  was 
made  by  him  ;  and  the  world  knew  him  not.  He  came 
unto  his  own  ;  and  his  own  received  him  not.  But  as 
many  as  received  him,  to  them  he  gave  power  to  be 
made  the  sons  of  God,  to  them  that  believe  in  his 
name  :  who  are  born  not  of  blood,  nor  of  the  will  of 
the  flesh,  nor  of  the  will  of  man,  but  of  God.  And 
the  Word  was  made  flesh  and  dwelt  among  us  :  and  we 
saw  his  glory,  the  glory  as  of  the  only  begotten  of 
the  Father,  full  of  grace  and  truth." 

What  a  page!  What  an  illumined  portal  for  enter- 
ing into  the  light  of  God  !  Bossuet  says  of  the  same 
Gospel  in  another  place,  "  You  will  discover  therein 
depths  to  make  one  tremble."  Here  is  the  evidence 
which  gushes  forth  from  those  depths,  and  which  solves 
the  enigma  of  man  and  of  God,  as  the  heavenly  sun  swal- 
lows up  the  night.  Humanity  is  not  mistaken  in  it. 
Before  the  splendor  of  this  heavenly  brightness  in- 
stantly it  has  felt  the  vision  of  Paradise  appearing 
again  to  its  darkened  vision  ;  it  has  partly,  if  not  en- 


Introduction. 


tirely,  recognized  the  God  who  had  spoken  to  it  in  the 
days  of  its  innocence,  when  it  yet  dwelt  in  its  cradle 
of  flowers  ;  and  it  has  well  known  that  the  Redeemer 
came,  and  that  he  gave  to  men  "  power  to  be  the  chil- 
dren of  God." 

But  the  light  shone  in  darkness,  and  the  darkness 
does  not  comprehend  it.  And  He  by  whom  the  world 
was  made  came  into  the  world,  and  the  world  did  not 
know  him.  And  the  world  requires  that  we  should 
contradict  the  murderous  folly  that  advises  men  to  re- 
fuse being  made  the  children  of  God,  saying  to  them 
that  Jesus  Christ  was  not  the  Son  of  God  nor  the  Re- 
deemer of  the  world,  and  that  God  has  no  Son,  and 
that  the  world  does  not  stand  in  need  of  a  Redeemer  I 


If^S^I 

II. 


BEFORE     CHRIST. 


NEVERTHELESS,  the  world  waited  ;  and  in  what 
condition  !  The  modern  writer,  according  to 
whom  man  "  became  religious,"  depicts  humanity- 
abandoned  to  its  own  conceptions  on  religious  matters. 
For  gods  it  had  fetiches  ;  sorcerers  and  jugglers  for 
priests  ;  human  beings  for  a  victim  :  such  were  the  re- 
ligions invented  by  man.  "  So  this  divine  faculty  of 
religion  for  a  long  time  resembled  a  cancer  that  re- 
quired to  be  extirpated  from  the  human  species — a 
cause  of  errors  and  crimes  which  the  sages  were  com- 
pelled to  suppress."  The  author  adds  that  the  brilliant 
civilization  of  China,  of  Babylon,  and  of  Egypt  made 
a  certain  progress  in  religion.  But  what  progress? 
China  remained  "  mediocre  "  ;  the  religions  of  Babylon 
and  Syria,  never  having  "  detached  themselves  from  a 
foundation  of  strange  sensuality,  remained,  even  to  their 
extinction,  in  the  fourth  and  fifth  centuries  of  our  era, 
the  schools  of  immorality."  In  other  words,  all  the  re- 
ligions anterior  to  Jesus  Christ,  the  Jewish  excepted, 
were  satanical,  anti-social,  dishonoring  to  God  and 
man.  This  is  the  acknowledgment  of  one  who  is  a  de- 
clared enemy  of  the  Catholic  Church.  He  could  not 
help  acknowledging  the  fact,  and  the  fact  overthrows 
his  whole  system.     Bossuet,  with  the  superiority  of  his 

50 


Introduction. 


5* 


genius,  which  was  often  but  the  superiority  of  his  faith,  \ 

has  said  :   "  The   most  enlightened   nations   were    the 


blindest  in  matters  of  religion  :  so  it  is  true  that  among 
them  it  required  to  be  laised  up  by  a  particular  grace 
or  by  wisdom  more  than  human." 

In  what  religion  of  antiquity  do  we  not  discover 
gross  sorceries,  fetichism,  the  abomination  of  hu- 
man sacrifice  ?  What  temple  was  not  in  some  man- 
ner the  school  of  immorality  ?  Those  horrors  kept 
pace  with  the  flourishing  splendor  of  Athens  and 
Rome.     There,  even  in  those  centres  of  civilization  and 

refinement,  the   rite  of  immolations  was    never  abol- 
) 
'  ished.     To  multiply  executions,  it  was   not  necessary 

that  a  religion  should  accumulate  dead  bodies  around 
its  idols,  as  at  Carthage  and  at  Dahomey.  At  Rome, 
the  circus  was  a  temple.  Before  commencing  the 
sports  (those  sports  where  as  many  as  thirty  thousand 
\  men  were  put  to  death),  they  invoked  the  immortal 

\  gods,  and   occasionally  upon  a  portable  altar  human 

blood  flowed,  shed  by  the  hand  of  the  priests. 

In  the  circus,  religion  made  victims  by  the  sword  of 

the  gladiator  and  the  teeth  of  wild  beasts.     Through- 

\  out  the  whole  empire,  and  over  the  entire  surface  of 

the  earth,  she  slew  souls  with  greater  tortures  by  the 

prevalent  corruption  of  morals. 

Do  we — sons,  daughters,  fathers,  through  the  grace 
of  Christ, — do  we  represent  this  "  brilliant  civilization," 
where  the  family  existed  not  for  three-fourths  of  men, 
where  none  tasted  its  bliss  in  its  sacred  fulness? 
The  name  "  father  of  family  "  signified  possessor  of 
slaves.  In  all  Greece,  devoted  to  the  worship  of  un- 
chaste love,  conjugal  love  had  no  temple. 

Behold,  therefore,  the  progress  of  the  man  become 
religious.     His  religion  was  a  "  cancer,"  and  the  can- 

\ 


5  2  Introduction. 

cer  devoured  his  flesh.  But  the  "  sages"  who  under- 
took to  extirpate  the  cancer — where  do  we  find  them? 
Only  since  Jesus  Christ,  only  as  opposed  to  Jesus 
Christ,  has  the  world  known  of  such  sages.  Antiquity 
is  ignorant  of  their  species,  and  would  not  have  borne 
with  them.  When  Satan  sets  himself  up  to  be  ador- 
ed, he  neither  excites  nor  permits  a  free  examination. 
Not  having  the  truth,  he  has  no  longer  that  patience 
which  is  the  forbearance  of  God.  They  did  not  dis- 
cuss Minerva  at  Athens,  Jupiter  at  Rome,  more  than 
they  did  a  little  while  ago  Calvin  at  Geneva,  Mahomet 
at  Mecca,  Luther  at  Copenhagen,  or  Joe  Smith  among 
the  Mormons.  The  Christians  publicly  refused  incense 
to  the  idols.  Among  the  enlightened  pagans,  those 
who  wished  to  remain  "  sages  "  demanded  that  the  idols 
should  be  regilded  and  Christians  delivered  over  to  the 
lions. 

Before  Christianity,  what  could  the  sages  effect  ? 
What  baptism  gave  them  light  ?  What  could  they 
have  discovered  to  put  in  place  of  the  gods  ?  Reason, 
abandoned  to  itself  in  the  search  after  God,  rushes  into 
polytheism  by  the  rapid  downfall  which  now  hurries 
into  pantheism  all  that  has  severed  itself  from  Jesus 
Christ.  Polytheism  tends  to  the  worship  of  idols  ; 
pantheism  will  end  there  also.  The  sages  will  resist 
but  little  !'  Man  is  made  to  adore  ;  he  must  adore. 
Wherever  Christ  has  not  appeared  fetichism  reigns. 
Wherever  he  is  banished,  there  the  fetich  will  arise.  The 
passions  remain  ;  they  are  the  masters,  and  they  invoke 
the  gods.  Separated  from  divine  revelation,  science 
incontestably  demonstrates  nothing  but  terrible  phe- 
nomena, before  which  the  faculty  of  adoration  quickly 
vanishes  ;  man  appears  as  the  sport  of  contrary  powers, 
for  the  most   part  cruel,    all    inexorably  unfathomed, 


H 


Introduction. 


53 


whose  dark,  mysterious  will  he  cannot  conquer,  whose 
wicked  caprice  he  must  continually  dread-.  Perpetual 
terrors,  whence  surge  up  the  ravings  of  superstition — 
this  is  paganism  in  its  full  and  proper  meaning. 

"  There  is,"  says  Bossuet,  "  a  Christianism  of  nature." 
There  is  also  a  paganism  of  nature,  yawning  under 
men's  feet  ;  and  how  many  daily  plunge  therein  in 
presence  of  the  full  light  of  God  ?  The  world  will  be 
swallowed  up  therein. 

Could  the  sages  of  antiquity  withdraw  themselves 
from  it?  It  is  certain  they  have  not  attempted  it. 
Natural  sagacity  does  not  compromise  itself  for  the 
love  of  truth.  It  despises  vulgar  error,  yet  accompan- 
ies it  to  its  vilest  altars.  Moses,  animated  with  the 
Spirit  of  God,  is  the  only  legislator  of  antiquity  who 
dared  break  to  pieces  the  popular  idol  ;  he  has  no  imi- 
tators, except  among  his  people.  Solon  established  at 
Athens  the  temple  of  prostituted  Venus.  Socrates, 
Plato,  Cicero,  Seneca,  voluntarily  beliçved  in  the  unity 
and  immateriality  of  God  ;  but  Socrates,  when  dying, 
sacrified  to  Esculapius  ;  Plato  took  good  care  not  to 
incur  the  charge  of  impiety  ;  Cicero,  already  priest  of 
the  temple  of  the  earth,  sought  after  and  obtained  the 
office  of  augur  ;  Seneca  observed  the  pagan  rites. 
Whatever  might  have  been  their  sacred  or  private 
thoughts,  they  would  connive  at  no  irreligion  in 
public.  The  sages  of  our  day  assume  more  license  ; 
they  make  war  on  a  suffering  and  peaceful  Redeemer. 
Neither  Greece  nor  Rome  present  anything  which 
deserves  the  honor  or  disgrace  of  being  compared  to 
them. 

No,  no;  to  overturn  idols  it  required  the  arm  of 
the  martyrs  ;  to  heal  the  "  cancer  "  it  required  their 
generous    blood,    become    the    blood  of   Christ.     The 


54 


Introduction. 


philosophers  and  free-thinkers  of  pagan  times  have 
done  what  those  fine  talkers  were  able  to  accomplish 
whom  the  disciple  of  Socrates  points  out  to  us  at  the 
banquet  of  the  poet  Agathon.  Though  discoursing 
sometimes  admirably  on  virtue  and  truth,  still  they 
corrupted  the  earth.  The  genius  of  Plato,  roused  by 
the  far-off  vibrations  of  Sinai,  has  given  back  some 
magnificent  echoes.  Does  he  suspect  that  it  was  the 
echo  of  truth  ? 

In  the  dialogue  of  the  Banquet,  where  Socrates  seems 
for  a  moment  filled  with  Christian  thought,  the  most 
abominable  passion  is  glorified  as  the  most  active  prin- 
ciple of  virtue  ;  and  Socrates  asserts  that  he  took  from 
a  courtezan  the  beautiful  ideas  with  which  he  charmed 
his  auditors.  All  the  depravation,  the  wickedness,  that 
one  could  nowadays  collect  together  in  the  places  of  in- 
famy, in  the  abodes  of  depravity  and  vice,  could  not 
give  or  present  the  like  essence  of  degradation  and  coï- 
ruption.  To  refine  in  infamy  was  the  design  and  the 
art  of  the  "sages."  St.  Augustine  chides  himself  for 
having  lauded  those  impious  men  :  "  Plato  and  his 
school  were  not  born  to  enlighten  the  people,  or  to 
draw  them  away  from  the  universal  folly  of  idols  to 
the  true  worship  of  the  true  God." 

One  may  cite  beautiful  pagan  maxims.  Among  them 
beautiful  maxims  abounded,  just  as  temples  abounded. 
Their  temples  became  holy  and  their  maxims  effica- 
cious only  when  Christ  entered  them.  Pay  attention, 
says  Bossuet,  to  their  high,  lofty  expressions.  Do  you 
not  perceive  they  understand  them  not  ?  Nothing  is 
more  admirable  than  the  apology  of  Socrates  on  the 
character  and  destiny  of  the  truly  just  man,  contrasted 
with  the  impostor  who  feigns  righteousness  :  "  Let  his 
love   for  justice  draw  on   him  the   stigma   of  infamy  ; 


Introduction.  55 


though  always    virtuous,   and    yet    always    reputed  as 
criminal,  he  ardently  desires   to   persevere  till   death. 

.  .  The  just  man  will  be  buffeted,  loaded  down 
with  chains,  delivered  up  to  torture  ;  they  will  burn 
out  his  eyes,  they  will  nail  him  to  the  cross."  The 
Christian  spirit  is  astounded  at  this  prophetic  inspira- 
tion. But  what  impression  does  it  leave  on  Socrates  ; 
what  impression  does  the  world  conceive  of  it  before 
the  world  had  seen  the  tree  of  Calvary  and  tasted  its 
fruit  ?  This  pagan  conclusion  is  that  it  was  all-import- 
ant that  the  Just  One  on  the  cross  should  acknowledge 
that  he  was  not  suffering  for  justice's  sake,  but  only  for 
appearing  to  be  just  ;  and  all  ends  in  this  grovelling 
conclusion:   that  the  lot  of  the  unjust  is  more  happy. 

The  Roman  poets  are  rich  in  irreproachable  expres- 
sions of  morality.  In  the  writings  of  Ovid  many  moral 
lessons  abound— that  is,  to  speak  of  the  profit  one 
might  draw  from  them.  There  are  many  of  them  in 
Horace,  too,  who  so  calmly  despises  everything  that 
is  not  voluptuous.  Horace,  as  hard  as  a  Pharisee, 
hesitates  not  to  declare  that  death  is  too  slight  a  pun- 
ishment for  the  impure  vestal.  But  at  the  same  time 
this  rigid  devotee  does  not  cease  to  repeat,  in  thrilling 
accents,  the  advice  to  "  seize  pleasure  while  it  flies,  for 
'tis  of  heaven  the  gift."  We  have  also  the  famous  ex- 
pression, "  Know  thyself  "—a  word  admired,  engraved 
in  the  temple  of  Delphos,  "  and  from  heaven  derived," 
says  Juvenal.  He  failed  to  discover  the  art  of  knowing 
himself,  and  afterward  the  art  of  conquering  himself 
Few  heroes  essayed  this,  and  still  fewer,  having  essayed 
persevered.  They  are  forced  to  follow  the  counsel  of 
Horace  : 

"  To  be  troubled  at  nothing  : 

Perhaps  the  only  thing  here  below 
To  make  us  happy  and  keep  us  so." 


56 


Introduction. 


We  will  hear  Pilate  asking,  with  a  shrug  of  his 
shoulders,  What  is  truth  ?  This  same  Pilate,  who 
orders  the  Just  One  to  be  scourged  in  order  to  save 
his  life  ;  who  caused  him  to  be  crucified  to  relieve  him- 
self from  a  difficulty — this  Pilate,  who  pronounces  the 
Ecce  Homo,  doubtless  was  not  ignorant  of  the  Homo 
Sum  of  Terence.  He  murmured  the  words,  perhaps, 
at  the  first  sight  of  the  Man  of  Sorrows. 

We  do  not  despise  those  unfruitful  accents.  They 
are  the  testimonies  of  a  soul  naturally  Christian — testi- 
monies' like  the  rich  grass  which  attests  the  richness  of 
a  neglected  soil. 

After  the  coming  of  Christ  the  moral  vegetation  be- 
comes more  abundant,  and  assumes  a  character  more 
august.  Perseus,  Seneca,  Juvenal,  were  affected  by  the 
breath  of  the  apostles.  Under  Caligula  and  Nero 
Seneca  pronounces  those  admirable  words  :  "The  un- 
fortunate man  is  a  sacred  thing."  But  Seneca,  a 
flatterer  of  Caligula  and  Nero,  had  renounced  the  bar 
not  to  wound  the  vanity  of  the  former,  who  believed 
himself  an  orator  ;  he  returns  to  eloquence  to  excuse 
the  second  for  having  killed  his  mother.  Juvenal  has 
glimmering  lights  and  vigor  of  expression  which  seem 
to  be  obtained  at  the  foot  of  the  cross  :  "  There  is  no 
wicked  man  happy  "  ;  "  Esteem  it  dishonorable  to  love 
less  your  honor  than  your  life  "  ;  "  Whoever  meditates 
crime  is  already  guilty"  ;  "  Respect  more  than  all  the 
candor  of  youth."  Among  the  pagans,  thoughts  that 
are  fruitful  in  the  Gospel  are  but  stoical  emphasis,  a 
flourish  of  the  cymbals  of  genius. 

The  last  word  of  Seneca  is  suicide.  Juvenal,  like 
Seneca,  produces  only  the  abortive  fruit  of  the  good 
grain  fallen  on  the  highway  of  temporal  solicitudes. 
"  Pray    for  a  valiant    soul — one    which,    disfranchising 


Introduction. 


57 


itself  from  the  terrors  of  dying,  rather  looks  on  death  as 
the  choicest  benefit  of  human  nature — a  soul  unassail- 
able by  anger,  superior  to  vain  desires,  capable  of  pre- 
ferring to  all  the  pleasures  of  Sardanapalus  the  severe 
labors  of  Hercules  and  all  that  he  has  suffered."  Sub- 
lime desires,  noble  thoughts  !  In  the  days  of  Nero  and 
Adrian,  when  Juvenal  lived,  who  prayed  for  a  glory 
like  this,  and  who  obtained  it?  Christ  crucified  grati- 
fied the  love  of  those  who  had  learned  of  him  to  pray, 
"Our  Father  who  art  in  heaven";  Juvenal  saw  their 
labors  greater  than  those  of  Hercules,  and  he  was  not 
converted. 

In  order  to  give  a  better  account  to  ourselves  of  this 
world,  where  it  is  said  that  Jesus  Christ  was  not  neces- 
sary,  let  us  listen  to  what  was  thought  of  the  soul — a 
question  very  much  debated  among  philosophers;  that 
is  to  say,  among  those  who  constituted  the  head  of 
pagan  society.  For  Athens  and  Rome  were  head- 
quarters of  philosophers  and  literati. 

According  to  an  academician  of  our"  epoch,  Judea 
was  a  "  stranger  to  the  theory  of  individual  rewards  or 
recompenses,  which  Greece  had  taught  under  the  name 
of  the  immortality  of  the  soul."  By  this  turn  of  ex- 
pression the  academician  avows  that,  in  his  mind,  the 
immortality  of  the  soul,  and  perhaps  the  soul  itself, 
are  but  philosophical  conceptions,  very  debatable.  This 
is  the  point  on  which  antiquity  prided  itself.  Only, 
those  efforts  it  made  to  raise  itself  so  high  must  be 
made  to-day  to  descend  from  those  heights.  Doubt- 
less such  efforts  will  be  made.  The  question  of  the 
soul  is  bound  up  with  the  question  of  Jesus  Christ  :   in  < 

order  that  Jesus  Christ  should  cease  to  be  God,  it  is  es- 
sential to  suppose  cither  that  the  soul  is  not  responsi- 
ble or  is  not  immortal. 


58 


Introduction. 


Let  us  here  first  observe  that  Judea  was  not  "  a 
stranger  "  to  this  "  theory."  In  the  books  of  Moses, 
anterior  to  all  literature  and  all  philosophy,  God  is 
called  "  the  only  God,  master  of  all,  who  wounds  and 
who  heals,  who  strikes  with  death  and  who  raises  up 
to  life  again."  Twenty  passages  of  the  Sacred  Scrip- 
tures establish  the  same  truth.  Daniel  :  "  Those  who 
sleep  in  the  dust,  will  awake  from  the  sleep  of  death 
and  rise  up  one  day;  some  for  eternal  life,  and  others 
to  torments  without  end."  Tobias  :  "  We  are  the  chil- 
dren of  God,  and  we  await  that  life  that  he  is  bound  to 
give  to  those  who  do  not  renounce  his  faith."  Job  :  "  I 
know  that  my  Redeemer  liveth,  and  that  I  will  rise  up 
from  the  earth  at  the  last  day."  Behold  what  Judea 
knew  and  believed  touching  the  soul  before  there  were 
any  Greeks  !  "  Those  Jews,"  says  Tacitus  (portraying 
at  the  same  time  the  Romans),  "  believe  that  souls  are 
immortal.  They  rejoice  in  becoming  fathers,  and  do 
not  believe  it  lawful  to  take  away  the  life  of  any  of  the 
children  which  were  given  to  them."  All  this  is  so  well 
known  that  it  would  require  a  sort  of  courage  to  ap- 
pear not  to  know  it. 

The  numerous  systems  of  the  ancient  philosophers 
on  the  soul  or  thinking  substance  belong  to  the  num- 
ber of  those  things  which  mark  more  vividly  human  in- 
firmity. The  Christians  made  representations  of  them 
full  of  salutary  reflection.  We  find  in  those  various  sys- 
tems that  the  soul  is  the  heart  itself — a  certain  section 
of  the  brain — a  subtle  air — a  harmony  resulting  from 
the  concordance  of  the  various  parts  of  the  body — a 
number  that  moves  itself — a  portion  of  matter  distri- 
buted through  the  human  body,  wherein  it  assumes  a 
peculiar  character  according  to  the  place  it  occupies. 
According  to    others,  there  is  no  soul.      An  "  active 


Introduction. 


59 


principle  "  resulting  from  the  combinations  of  matter 
gives  place  to  the  phenomena  that  one  calls  life  and 
movement.  Aristotle  imagines  the  soul  has  its  origin 
in  the  Entelechia,  or  perpetual  motion.  To  what  end? 
Aristotle  knows  not.  Is  the  soul  immortal  ?  The  mas- 
ter of  Pythagoras,  Pherecides,  was  the  first  to  affirm  it,  in 
relation  to  Cicero,  who  seems  too  embarrassed  to  reject 
it,  and  quite  content  in  not  being  sure  of  it.  A  great 
many  maintain  that  the  soul  ends  with  the  body.  The 
Stoics  are  of  opinion  it  lives  as  long  as  the  crow.  Py- 
thagoras makes  the  soul  neither  perishable  nor  immor- 
tal. After  indefinite  transmigrations,  this  something 
or  other,  which  is  a  part  of  the  Divinity,  having  dwelt 
in  men,  beasts,  and  even. vegetables,  goes  to  unite  it- 
self to  the  universal  Soul,  and  is  lost  in  all.  Aristotle 
is  unintelligible,  not  to  say  mute  ;  Plato,  always  bril- 
liant and  ingenious,  contradicts  himself;  Panetius,  ob- 
serving that  the  soul  is  subject  to  sufferings,  concludes 
that  it  could  not  be  endowed  with  immortality.  This 
idea  of  the  immortality  of  the  soul  appears  to  Pliny  a 
childish  story,  an  intolerable  inflation  of  human  pride, 
the  zenith  of  madness.  Seneca  says:  "The  last  day 
of  life  is  the  birthday  for  an  eternal  life  "  ;  and  again  : 
"  If  it  be  true  that  the  soul  survives  the  body  without 
living  in  the  body,  the  future  life  is  preferable  to  the 
present."  Marcus  Antoninus  is  equivocal  ;  Plutarch  is 
hypothetical  ;   Epictetus  inclines  to  annihilation. 

An  humble  sentiment  of  Socrates  is  worth  far  more 
than  all  the  speculations  of  the  others  and  than  all  his 
own.  Contemplating  the  problem  of  the  union  of  the 
soul  and  body,  he  confesses  the  weakness  of  the  human 
mind,  and  invokes  the  aid  of  some  divine  revelation. 
After  the  lightning  flashes  through  the  darkness  of 
night,  the  darkness  becomes  deeper  and  more  obscure. 


6o  Introduction. 

Socrates  hopes  that  after  death  he  will  be  found  among 
the  good  people  ;  nevertheless,  he  dares  not  affirm  that 
anything  remains  of  the  good  or  bad  people  after 
death.  This  is  the  substance  of  the  entire  discourses 
of  Socrates  on  this  subject  ;  and  Plato,  for  his  part, 
does  not  speak  otherwise.  This  is  also, the  main  point 
of  Cicero,  in  spite  of  the  penetration  which,  in  the 
Dream  of  Scipio,  led  him  to  the  threshold  of  truth. 
There  was  among  the  Scipios  a  Jewish  teacher  whom 
Cicero  certainly  consulted.  Except  in  this  sublime 
flight  of  thought,  Cicero  differs  not  from  the  common 
thinker  ;  he  asks,  "  If  the  soul  be  annihilated,  what 
greater  advantages  than  to  escape  so  many  miseries, 
and  to  enter  into  the  sweets  of  eternal  sleep  ?  As  long 
as  I  exist  I  shall  not  suffer,  because  I  have  notliing  to  re- 
proach myself  zuitk.  Annihilated,  I  shall  not  expe- 
rience either  sorrow  or  pain."  The  thought  of  a  future 
responsibility  does  not  torment  them.     If  they  had  ex- 


perienced it,  they  would  be  less  presumptuous  in  de- 
claring themselves  just;  and  doubtless  if  they  had 
sincerely  believed  in  their  justice,  they  would  have 
cherished  less  the  idea  of  nothingness  or  non-existence 
— a  thought  so  dreadful  to  the  soul  ennobled  by  Chris- 
tianity. In  reality,  they  did  not  consider' themselves 
just  ;  they  did  not  wish  to  be  so,  and  they  were  not 
happy.  The  tone  of  despair  and  disgust  of  himself  is 
not  rare  with  the  Epicurean  Horace  ;  the  Stoics  con- 
sidered it  the  right,  and  almost  the  duty,  of  man  to 
commit  suicide — all  view  total  annihilation  as  the 
surest  felicity.  Socrates  cries  out,  "  To  sleep  without 
dreaming  or  awaking — if  death  be  anything  like  this,  I 
call  it  a  great  gain."  Oh  !  what  a  gain  to  be  no  more. 
What  a  comment  those  outcries  of  human  misery  are 
on  the  word  of  the  apostle  where   he  proclaims  Christ 


Introduction.  61 

and  the  revelation  which  Socrates  expected  :  "  In  him 
was  the  life,  and  the  life  was  the  light  of  men."  Be- 
cause mankind  had  not  Christ,  they  had  not  life. 

"Among  the  pagans,"  says  Lactantius,  "wisdom 
has  its  doctors  who  do  not  teach  the  means  of  ap- 
proaching the  gods,  and  religion  has  its  ministers  who 
do  not  teach  wisdom  ;  hence  we  may  conclude  that 
among  them  there  is  neither  true  wisdom  nor  true  re- 
ligion." Aberrations  from  religion  and  aberrations  from 
wisdom  produced  a  moral  teaching  which  was  but  the 
contempt  of  everything.  The  most  logical  sophists 
madly  maintain  that  nothing  is  just  or  unjust  in  itself, 
but  only  through  the  will  of  the  legislator  ;  others, 
without  saying  this,  show  too  well  that  they  believe  it. 

The  noble  school  of  Socrates  and  Plato  brought  forth 
the  Pyrrhonites  and  the  Cynics,  and  those  foolish  and 
impure  sects  were  very  soon  the  only  memory  that  re- 


mained of  them.  There  is  almost  the  same  space  of 
time  between  the  teaching  of  Plato  and  Cicero  as 
there  is  between  the  teaching  of  the  apostles  and  the 


why,"  he  adds,  "  Arcesilaus  maintained  against  Zeno 
that  we  can  know  nothing,  not  alone  that  we  do  not 


Council  of  Nice.  But  what  essential  truth  was  acquir- 
ed or  established  among  the  human  race  up  to  the 
days  of  Cicero?  He  speaks  of  the  "obscurity"  of 
those  lofty  questions  which  led  Socrates  to  confess  his 
ignorance,  and,  even  before  Socrates,  almost  all  the 
ancient  philosophers,  whose  opinion  was  that  one  can 
arrive  at  nothing,  understand  nothing,  know  nothing  ; 
that  the  senses  are  limited,  the  mind  incapable,  life  too 
short  ;  that  truth  is  profoundly  hidden  ;  that  there  is 
no  longer  room  for  it  on  the  face  of  the  earth,  strewn 
over  with  conventionalities  and  opinions  ;  that,  in  a 
word,  all  is  covered  with  a  thick  darkness.     "  This  is 


62  Introduction. 

know  anything,  winch  was  all  that  Socrates  held. 
There  is  nothing  we  can  see  or  comprehend,  and  con- 
sequently there  is  nothing  we  can  hold  for  certain." 
Such  is  the  drift  of  ancient  wisdom  some  ages  after 
Plato  raised  it  to  its  highest  summit.  In  a  space  of 
time  of  the  same  length,  amid   heresies  and  torments,  } 

when  the  pagan  world  was  about  being   dissolved,  the  \ 

teaching  of  the  apostles  chanted  the  universal  Credo 
of  Nice — sovereign  affirmation  of  the  truths  which  save  > 

the  soul  and  which  will  reconstruct  the  world.  The 
ancient  Athenians,  having  been  delivered  from  a 
plague,  raised  an  altar  to  the  Unknown  God,  "  in  order 
to  discover,"  says  St.  Paul  to  their  descendants,  "  if 


by  groping  for  God  in  the  dark  they  could  find  him." 
But  when  St.  Paul,  announcing  this  God  before  the 
Areopagus,  touched  on  what  regarded  justice  and  the 
resurrection,  the  sages  of  the  school  of  Plato  laughed  \ 

him  to  scorn.  They  no  longer  deigned  even  to  examine. 
All  enlightened  paganism  expresses  the  disdain  of 
Pilate  :  Quid  est  Veritas  ? 

St.  Augustine  is  astonished  that  after  Christ  people 
were  to  be  found  who,  undertaking  to  speak  and  en- 
lighten men,  loved  more  to  have  Plato  in  their  mouths 
than  Christ  in  their  hearts.  There  are  many  of  the  same 
stamp  always  to  be  found.  Let  us  grant  them  that  a 
favorable  interpretation  may  be  given  of  many  doubt- 
ful points  in  the  doctrine  of  Socrates  and  Plato  ;  let 
us  acquit  those  sages  of  having  positively  believed  in 
metempsychosis,  in  the  pre-existence  and  eternity  of 
matter,  in  the  annihilation  of  the  soul  ;  yet  we  must 
refuse  to  justify  them  in  their  teachings  on  conduct 
and  morals.  Their  manners  were  not  simply  gross, 
wicked  customs,  as  we  understand  it  to-day  ;  they  were 
not  content  to  yield  to   nature,  but  they  violated  it. 


Introduction.  63 


They  did  not  refrain  from  this;  they  did  not  blush  for 

it.     Socrates  is  absolutely  cynical.      In  the   Dialogues  ( 

)  I 

of  Plato  the  most  degrading  vice  is  presented  as  some- 
thing so  natural  in  itself,  so  much  in  usage  in  spite  of  ( 
prohibitive  laws,  that  it  is  doubtful  if  those  polite  and 
learned  authors,  those  sages,  those  philosophers,  could 
have  discovered  any  evil  in  the  practice  of  the  most 
revolting  vices.  Christian  morality  may  be  often 
powerless  against  the  wicked  inclinations  of  man  ;  but 
j  even  when  defeated,  it  awakens  to  repentance  ;  it  ex- 
cites in  the  consciences  dreadful  remorse.  The  sinner 
is  the  first  to  accuse  and  condemn  himself.  But  if  he 
be  so  bold  as  to  justify  crime,  then  he  is  not  only  a  sin- 
ner, he  becomes  an  apostate.  His  very  apology  for  his 
sin  is  an  acknowledgment  upon  which  the  public  con- 
science ratifies  the  just  decree  by  which  he  becomes  an 
outcast. 

Whatever  one  may  think  of  the  genius  of  Plato,  it 
must  be  acknowledged  that  the  truth  was  known  to 
him  ;  that  he  amused  himself  with  it,  played  with  it  ; 
and  that  he  amused  himself  also  with  vice.  Whatever 
one  may  think  of  the  lofty  presentiments  of  Socrates, 
of  his  qualities,  and  of  his  death,  it  will  always  be  true 
that  Socrates  did  not  know  his  faults,  nor  did  he  wish 
to  condemn  them.  Plato  despised  the  philosophers  who 
would  not  render  themselves  plain  enough  and  clear 
enough  to  be  understood  by  the  common  people. 
Socrates,  after  a  life  of  free-thinking,  died  without 
having  the  least  spark  of  repentance.  By  this  trait  of 
character  of  the  greatest  of  men,  by  this  trait  of  one 
of  the  best  of  men,  we  can  perceive  what  were  the 
precursors  of  Christianity. 

Antiquity  had  nothing  in  it  that  was  Christian,  no- 
thing whatever.     Doctrines,   laws,   customs,   whatever 


64  Introduction. 

flowed  from  its  wisdom,  concurred  to  grind  the  helpless 
and  feeble — the  child,  the  mother,  the  poor,  the  slave, 
the  people.  The  proof  of  this  lies  in  those  famous 
legislative  acts  wherein  is  revealed  with  so  much  evi- 
dence the  inspiration  of  him  who  was  "  a  murderer 
from  the  beginning."  The  Spartan  laws  present  not 
what  is  most  diabolical  and  impure  ;  Plato  insults 
human  nature  more  deeply,  if  possible.  The  imaginary 
laws  of  Plato  explain  the  extreme  helplessness  of  the 
mortal  who  seeks  after  wisdom  by  himself;  and  these 
laws  show  the  extent  of  his  implacable  pride  when  he 
imagines  he  has  discovered  it  himself.  Humanity, 
according  to  him,  is  but  inert  matter,  over  which  the 
mind  has  the  right  to  govern  as  it  will.  He  shapes 
humanity  with  a  stroke  of  the  axe — he  cuts,  lops  off, 
tears  to  pieces  at  his  will,  and  uses  death  itself  as  he 
pleases.  Plato,  the  legislator,  wishes  only  to  have  per- 
fect bodies  and  beautiful  minds  ;  consequently  physi- 
cians should  let  badly-formed  individuals  perish.  The 
tribunals  should  put  to  death  the  incorrigibly  wicked  ; 
the  children  badly  made  or  born  of  wicked  parents 
should  be  abandoned.  Out  of  regard  for  beauty  and 
vigor  of  manhood,  he  limits  the  age  for  becoming  fa- 
ther or  mother  ;  nevertheless,  before  and  after  the 
period  fixed,  the  law  only  imposes  sterility,  and  in 
case  of  crime— that  is  to  say,  in  case  of  production — 
that  the  children  should  be  abandoned  to  their  own 
fate.  Women  shall  be  common  for  soldiers  ;  so  that 
children,  not  knowing  their  parents,  and  not  known  by 
them,  shall  be  considered  to  belong  to  all.  The  free 
man  can  kill  his  slave,  and  he  is  only  bound  thereafter 
to  purify  himself;  but  the  slave  who,  even  in  defending 
himself,  should  have  killed  a  free  man,  shall  undergo 
the  punishment  of  a  parricide.      Thus   it  is  that  the 


Introduction.  65 


greatest  philosopher  of  antiquity,  supposing  himself 
master  of  the  people,  would  wish  to  mould  them  to 
beauty  and  virtue.  Plato  had  criticised  the  laws  of 
Lycurgus  ;  they  were  capable,  said  he,  of  forming 
valiant  but  not  just  men.  We  meet,  indeed,  some 
views  of  justice  and  dignity  in  this  Utopian  world  of 
Plato's,  which  sometimes  seem  to  have  grown  out  of  dim 
shadowings  of  the  Hebrew  republic.  But  Plato  had 
not  the  God  of  Israel,  and,  on  the  other  hand,  the 
brutality  of  the  Spartans  fascinated  this  dainty  philo- 
sopher. Elevating  himself  in  imagination  above  the 
effeminate  Attics,  he  spurns  poetry  and  encourages 
bloodshed.  Voluptuousness  is  not  barren  ;  it  always 
brings  forth  a  daughter — ferocity.  The  voluptuous 
Horace  demands  that  the  perjured  vestal  should  twice 
be  put  to  death  ;  the  voluptuous  Plato  wishes  to  crush 
the  heart  of  the  mother  and  of  the  spouse  ;   he  puts  to 


death  the  slave,  and  casts  deformed  children  into  the 
filthiest  sinks.  O  Christ!  O  purity!  O  love!  hasten 
thou,  come  and  instruct  the  Samaritan,  raise  up  the 
sinful  woman  who  weeps,  and  place  your  hand  on  the 
head  of  the  little  children. 

It  is  not  necessary  to  object  that  the  laws  of  Plato 
were  but  the  spore  of  his  imagination  —  a  chimera. 
Greece  had  seen  in  this  same  line  of  enactments  at- 
tempts and  successes  which  permitted  everything. 
Plato  did  not  invent  infanticide  ;  the  condition  of  the 
Helots  of  Sparta  was  worse  than  he  made  that  v>(  the 
slave.  The  lot  of  the  Roman  slave  and  the  Roman 
infant  was  not  better.  Tcrtullian  said  to  the  magis- 
trates of  the  empire:  "Who  is  he  among  you  who  has 
not  put  to  death  his  own  child?"  In  the  third  cen- 
tury Plotinus,  a  philosopher  jealous  of  Christianity,  un- 
dertakes  to   found   a   city  wherein  the   laws  of   Plato 


66 


Introduction. 


should  be  observed.  The  philosophers  whom  Chris- 
tianity shall  not  enlighten  become  even  blinder  than 
those.  Notwithstanding  the  aid  of  Gallienus,  the 
emperor,  Plotinus  could  not  succeed.  In  the  third 
century  it  was  already  too  late.  Nevertheless,  those 
things  sprang  from  the  vitiated  source  of  human  na- 
ture, and  even  to-day  one  could  not  swear  that  they 
can  be  found  there  no  more. 

"  Opinions  opposed  to  reason,"  says  Bonald,  "  in- 
evitably produce  actions  opposed  to  nature."  In  spite 
of  the  inward  groanings  of  this  nature,  which  cannot 
entirely  disappear,  the  pagan  world,  yielding  to  the 
reason  of  its  sages,  was  made  to  the  image  of  its  gods. 
Human  intelligence  became  obscured,  public  and  pri- 
vate acts  were  dissolute.  Let  us  take  any  ten  years 
of  Roman  history  :  in  the  civil  as  well  as  the  domestic 
society  the  ulcer  deepens,  enlarges  itself;  divorce  and 
licentiousness  devour  the  family,  ambition  devours 
justice.  More  and  more  foreign  war  appears  to  be  the 
only  remedy  for  internal  disorders,  and  more  and  more 
it  is  their  aliment.  The  more  the  great  aspire  to 
tyranny,  the  more  the  multitude  plunge  into  igno- 
miny; until  at  length  they  must  be  satiated  with 
blood.  They  lick  the  hand  that  spreads  before  them 
the  poison  and  whets  the  sword  that  becomes  the 
avenger  of  their  crimes  and  immoralities.  Natural  vir- 
tue becomes  more  precarious,  usury  more  ferocious, 
debtors  more  miserable,  slaves  more  barbarously  op- 
pressed, in  proportion  as  riches  augment,  as  morals 
become  effeminate,  as  letters  and  arts  multiply  won- 
ders. Everywhere  cruelty,  venality,  deceit  ;  every- 
where lying  and  barefaced  wickedness — the  impudent, 
captious  lying  of  words,  the  cynical  lying  of  judgments 
and  of  oaths,  the  monstrous  lies  in  treaties  and  com- 


Introduction.  67 

pacts.  The  Punic  faith  has  devoured  Roman  faith  ; 
allies  are  but  enemies  whom  they  gained  over  by  trea- 
son. Whether  we  speak  of  strangers  or  fellow-citizens, 
war  is  without  humanity,  alliance  without  security 
peace  without  amenities.  Such  is  the  greatest  of  those 
ancient  peoples  whom  an  infatuation  of  literature 
wishes  to  portray  to  us  as  so  free,  noble,  and  bold. 
Their  baseness  is  only  comparable  to  their  corruption. 
The  dominant  characterof  ancient  Rome  is  a  profound 
forgetfulness  of  God,  an  unutterable  contempt  for  man. 
These  two  things  can  hardly  be  separated — the  one 
\  engenders  the  other.  i 

i  Before   Christ,    man    was   the   prey  of  man.      The 

moment  Christ  appears  the  prey  is  submissive  and 
resists  no  more.  It  is  not  that  man  has  lost  his  in- 
stincts.    Pursuing  the  path  of  darkness,  he  preserved 


this  vain  light.     With   it  guiding  him,  he  rushes  on 


)  madly,  fatally,  to    slavery    and    bondage.       Without 

speaking  of  Ninive,  of  Tyre,  of  Babylon,  which  have 
disappeared,  and  of  Memphis,  which  is  fast  decaying, 
we  have  had  those  dazzling  Greek  democracies  and 
that  grand  Roman  Senate— Homer  and  Plato,  Phidias 
and  Aristotle,  Cicero  and  Virgil,  Alexander  and  Caesar. 
Legislators,  conquerors,  artists,  poets,  have  not  been 
wanting  ;  but  nothing  taught  man  the  love  of  God 
nor  respect  for  man,  and  everything  tended  to  place 
the  world  under  the  sway  of  Rome,  and  Rome  under  the 
feet  of  Tiberius,  Caligula,  and  Nero.  Behold  the  grand 
total,  the  names  which  sum  up  those  vast  labors  of  the 
human  race  and  of  time — Tiberius  constitutes  himself 
a  divinity  ;  he  is  followed  by  the  divine  Nero.  That  is 
the  rule  and  order  of  things.  The  god  Tiberius  shuts 
himself  up  in  the  isle  of  Capri,  inventing  voluptuous- 
ness, brutality,  and  punishments,  restless,  and  already 


Introduction. 

a  prey  to  dissolution.  It  is  not  the  anxiety  to  con- 
solidate his  divinity  that  caused  restlessness  ;  he  is 
more  embarrassed  to  limit  the  number  of  his  temples 
and  the  multitude  of  his  priests.  Tiberius  does  not 
demand  incense — he  refuses  it  ;  but  he  fears  death,  he 
fears  Rome  at  his  knees,  he  fears  his  ministers,  the 
accomplices  of  his  murders  and  debauchery  ;  he  fears 
especially  his  heir,  that  Caligula  whom  he  raises  up  to 
revenge  himself  for  the  misery  of  being  divinized,  and 
to  bequeath  to  his  adorers  a  monster  capable  of  mak- 
ing even  himself  regretted.  However,  ten  thousand 
Pretorians  suffice  Sejanus  to  maintain  respect  for 
mighty  Rome,  trembling  under  the  indictment  of  her 
impeachers.  Very  soon  they  will  have  a  Caligula,  the 
fool  ;  then  Claudius,  the  imbecile  ;  next,  Messalinus 
and  Agrippinus  govern  ;  and,  at  last,  Domitius  Nero 
will  be  the  political  head,  the  centre,  the  peace-giver 
of  the  human  race. 

"  Let  the  gods  rain  down  miseries,  double  our  woes  ; 

Be  our  storm-riven  galleys  entombed  in  the  main  ;  . 
Let  the  best  blood  of  Rome,  as  in  torrents  it  flows, 

Still  crimson  our  hearths,  where  her  heroes  lie  slain. 
What  matter  though  all  sink  in  ruin  untold  ? 
Nero  rules,  we  are  happy,  and  Rome  is  consoled  !"  * 

This  is  the  last  word  of  polytheism,  its  last  civil  and 
religious  expression — Tiberius,  Caligula,  Nero,  Helio- 
gabalus,  masters  round  whom  the  world  naturally 
throngs  !  Against  the  dogma  of  the  unity  of  God 
Satan,  the  denier,  brought  forth  the  heresy  of  poly- 
theism. When  the  Son  of  God  assumed  human  na- 
ture, and  clothed  himself  with  our  mortality,  to  reveal 
all  truth  and  to  restore  all  liberty,  Satan,  the   parodist, 

*  Pharsalia,  Brébeul's  translation. 


~1 


Introduction.  69 

is  also  anxious  to  be  incarnated  ;  he  enthrones  Caesar 
sovereign  pontiff  and  vicar  of  all  the  gods,  and  in  the 
main  the  only  god.  And  Tertullian  said  that  they  would 


rather  perjure  themselves  after  having  sworn  by  their 
gods  than  after  having  sworn  by  the  genius  of  Caesar. 
This  power  adapted  itself  so  well  to  the  degradation  of 
humanity  that  it  lasted  for  three  centuries,  passing 
from  the  wicked  to  fools,  from  fools  to  brutes,  from 
brutes  to  monsters,  without  causing  the  sluggish  beast 
to  revolt  whose  veins  it  empties  while  staining  it  with 
perpetual  infamy.  The  pagans  kill  the  emperors;  the 
Christians  only  will  put  to  death  the  empire.  They 
will  kill  it  by  rejecting  its  gods,  and  by  offering  up  their 
own  life,  dying  themselves  thus  to  redeem  the  world. 
But  those  haughty  Romans,  those  philosophers,  those 
idolaters,  who  refuse  the  truth,  do  not  wish  liberty 
either.  They  kill  the  emperor  either  to  rob  or  sell  the 
empire,  not  to  deliver  it.  "  Our  glory  at  present  is  to 
obey."  They  kept  this  engagement,  taken  before  the 
face  of  Tiberius.  The  ancient  legislators  proposed  to 
themselves  to  institute  some  form  of  liberty;  but  the 
imperial  world  entertains  no  more  this  dream.  Under 
the  feet  of  Caesar  civilians  grow  up  true  theologians  of 
the  imperial  worship  ;  they  give  to  this  pastor  the 
entire  ownership  of  the  human  cattle.  Caesar  kills  and 
robs  by  an  authority  founded  on  right.  "  Quidquid 
principi  placuit  legis  habet  vigorem."  But,  after  all, 
far  better  are  the  caprices  of  Caesar  than  the  laws  of 
Plato. 

And  the  world,  carrying  to  its  extreme  verge  its  for- 
getfulness  of  God  and  hatred  of  man,  adores  abjectly 
the  idol  of  flesh  which  devours  it,  and  feels  itself  ab- 
jectly dying. 


III. 


THE   PROPHECIES. 


ONLY  one  people  or  nation,  escaping  from  this 
natural  condition  of  degradation  and  ignominy, 
adored  the  true  God,  possessed  a  legitimate  priesthood, 
and  practised  a  holy  worship.  These  were  the  only 
people  who  believed  in  the  immortality  of  the  soul — 
the  Jewish  people,  reserved  to  furnish  the  flesh  of  the 
Incarnate  Word.  By  dint  of  chastisements  and  mira- 
cles, God  had  plucked  from  their  heart  the  growing  bud 
of  idolatry.  Indifferent  observers  of  the  divine  law,  in- 
clined to  misconstrue  it,  they  were  still  zealous  guar- 
dians of  it.  They  transgressed  it,  they  did  not  abjure 
it  ;  and  this  was  enough  to  elevate  them  morally  far 
above  all  other  peoples  and  nations,  without  even  ex- 
cepting the  Romans,  who  were  their  proud  oppressors 
and  their  masters.  Under  the  protection  of  the 
Temple,  man  was  a  man,  a  son  of  Abraham,  a  sub- 
ject of  the  Most  High.  Equitable  regulations  pro- 
tected his  liberty,  guarded  his  dignity,  maintained  him 
in  the  possession  of  his  inheritance.  Ceremonies  at  once 
religious  and  national  instructed  him  in  the  history  of 
his  fathers  and  that  of  his  religion.  If  he  wished  to 
walk  in  the  way  of  the  divine  commandments,  the 
strength  of  holy  prayer  continually  elevated  his  heart  ; 


!  he  offered   up   pure  sacrifices,  he  did  works  of  penance 

and  justice  ;  he  awaited  the  accomplishment  of  the  long- 
expected  promise,  knowing  that  a  Redeemer  would  be 
born  for  him  of  the  race  of  David,  Son  of  Abraham,  and 
that  he  would  see  the  God  of  his  ancestors  in  the  land 

of  the  living.  _ 

This  God  of  Abraham,  who  was  to  send  forth  the  Re- 
deemer, has  revealed  to  us  some  of  his  high  and  holy 
names:  He  is  who  is— the  Lord  of  Lords— the  All- 
Powerful  Protector  of  the  weak  and  the  orphan,  who 
created  the  world,  who  gives  life  and  conquers  death. 
Lowly  Palestine  was  more  learned  than  Athens  and 
richer  than  Rome  ;  for  already  she,  in  a  certain  manner, 
knew  and  possessed  God. 

Despite  terrible  vicissitudes,  all  occasioned  by  their 
transgression  and  announced  by  their  prophets,  Israel, 
the  people  of  God,  had  tasted  long  periods  of  repose. 
The  traditions  of  the  golden  age,  seen  in  vague  begin- 
nings in  other  histories,  formed  in  the  Jewish  history 
certain  and  recent  epochs.     Since  the  return  from  the 
Babylonish    captivity    up  to  the  Roman    domination, 
Judea,  rather  protected  than  enslaved,  mistress  of  her 
worship,   perfectly  undeceived    as    to  the  worship  of 
idols,  and  preserved  from  false  prophets,  had  enjoyed 
four  centuries  of  honorable  peace.     During  those  four 
ages,  Greece  passed  from  the  Persian  war  and  the  de- 
feat of  Xerxes  to  the  victory  of  the  Consul  Mummius, 
where  she  died  ;  Carthage  saw  her  last  day  ;  the  his- 
tory of  Rome  was  full  of  the  blood  that  flowed  from 
Tarquin  to  Marius.     The  peace  of  Israel,  wherein  each, 
according  to  the  gracious  expression  of  the  Scripture, 
lived  happily  under  his  own  vine  and  fig-tree,  was  not 
notably  interrupted,  save  by  the  short  and  glorious  war 
of  the  Machabees,  the  last  heroes,  and  almost  the  last 


( 
priests,   of  that  people  whose  incomparable  destinies 
are  not  yet  completed. 

Strange  people,  truly  immortal,  founded  by  God,  in- 
structed by  God,  cared  for  by  God,  who  also  received 
directly  from  God  all  their  laws  and  all  their  great  men  ; 
and  who,  having  separated  themselves  from  God,  per- 
ished without  dying  and  without  disappearing  !  Guilty 
of  a  crime  as  unheard  of  as  their  privileges,  object  of  a 
chastisement  unheard  of,  dragging  along  a  living  death 
under  the  arms  of  the  cross  to  which  they  nailed  the 
living  God,  the  Jew  erred  amid  light  like  others  amid 
darkness,  blinded  by  the  very  torch  that  ought  to 
have  been  his  guide  ;  but  the  faithful  promises  he  ob- 
stinately rejects  pursue  him,  they  overtake  him,  and 
he  Avili  die  to  live  again,  ennobled  by  all    humanity. 

In  the  bosom  of  this  people  is  to  be  accomplished,  at 
the  moment  announced  five  hundred  years  before  by 
one  of  its  last  prophets,  an  event  the  most  important 
that  the  world  ever  witnessed  or  that  heaven  has  ever 
seen.  On  earth  the  reparation  of  the  first  creation  is 
to  be  effected  ;  and  this  reparation  requires  a  new  and 
more  perfect  creation,  since  the  degraded  and  outlawed 
creature,  re-established  in  his  primeval  state,  shall  be 
honored  by  a  participation  in  the  Divinity.  In  heaven 
was  to  take  place  what  we  might  dare  to  call  a  change 
of  the  Unchangeable,  an  enlargement  of  the  Infinite. 
"  The  mystery  [of  the  redemption]  concealed  from  all 
eternity  in  God,  who  created  all  things,"  is  to  be  mani- 
fested to  men  and  angels,  to  become  the  faith  and  sal- 
vation of  the  human  race,  the  admiration  of  angels, 
the  perfection  and  glory  of  God.  By  this  mystery  the 
earth,  whereon  God  was  about  to  descend,  should  be  an 
enlargement  of  heaven,  a  new  heaven,  in  which  God 
dwells  in  a  manner  more  divine  than  that  in  which  he 


Introduction. 


73 


dwelt  before  in  the  highest  heavens  ;  and  the  heaven 
to  which  human  nature  is  to  ascend,  indissolubly  united 
to  the  divine  nature,  shall  be  enriched  with  an  adoration 
hitherto  unknown.  Heaven  had  a  God  adored,  and  it 
will  have  a  God,  an  adorer,  clothed  with  humanity,  as 
the  most  signal  of  the  divine  attributes.  It  will  behold 
around  this  God  the  cortege  of  pious  souls — a  terrestrial 
harvest  that  the  Son  of  God  garnered  to  be  eternally 
the  prize  of  his  victory  and  the  triumph  of  his  love. 

This  event  is  the  establishment  of  fixed  and  definite 
religion,  the  ransom  of  humanity.  Although  it  had 
pleased  God  to  execute  it  in  a  manner  which  surpasses 
infinitely  all  that  humanity  could  hope  for  and  even 
comprehend,  nevertheless  the  outward  world  itself 
and  all  the  Gentiles  had  a  long  and  lively  presentiment 
of  it.  We  find  at  the  bottom  of  all  the  traditions  the 
type,  more  or  less  altered,  of  the  Messiah,  the  dogma 
of  the  necessary  redemption,  which  could  not  be  per- 
formed but  by  an  innocent  man.  The  conscience  of 
the  human  race  at  least  renders  this  homage  to  inno- 
cence, disdained  and  often  hated  though  it  was.  The 
expectation  of  this  divine  succor,  faith  in  the  super- 
abundant merits  of  the  innocent  One,  is  a  universal 
inheritance.  Admirable  proof  that  the  human  family 
sprang  from  the  same  cradle  ! 

Grief  for  lost  wealth,  sorrow  for  disinheritance  and 
dispersion,  produced  an  abundance  of  legends.  The 
legendary  Messiah,  colored  by  the  character  of  each 
family  of  peoples,  nationalized  and  materialized,  ob- 
scured and  disfigured  the  true  Messiah.  In  the  depth 
of  the  soul  there  is  an  echo  to  the  saying  of  Moses, 
"  Hear,  O  Israel  !  the  Lord  thy  God  is  One."  And  as 
this  idea  of  the  unity  of  God,  always  subsisting,  re- 
mained, nevertheless,  suppressed  and  depraved  in   the 


74 


Introduction. 


fables  of  polytheism,  so  the  idea  of  the  Messiah  was 
everywhere  enveloped  in  dark  clouds  of  error.  It  was 
requisite  that  the  Messiah  should  come  and  that  they 
should  not  acknowledge  him  /  it  was  requisite  that 
the  redemption  should  be  an  effort  and  a  conquest  ; 
it  was  necessary  that  Christ  should  suffer,  that  the 
innocent  one  should  bear  the  pain  of  the  guilty.  This 
was  necessary  in  order  that  man  might  be  redeemed, 
and  that  justice  might  be  done  toward  the  prince  of 
this  world,  from  whom  the  divine  mercy  snatched  his 
prey  ;  and  that  all  foretold  might  come  to  pass. 

Among  the  Jews  it  seemed  that  nothing  that  concern- 
ed the  Messiah  could  become  obscure.  Depositaries  of 
the  promises,  they  did  not  insult  him  by  any  doubt  or 
any  forgetfulness.  They  believed  their  fathers  and 
Moses,  to  whom  God  had  spoken  by  miracles.  Since 
Moses,  instructed  in  all  things,  neither  the  Spirit  of 
God  nor  miracles  were  silent.  The  promise,  renewed, 
affirmed,  developed,  as  it  were  without  intermission, 
resounded  in  all  the  prophets,  lived  in  all  the  -  great 
men.  The  Holy  Scripture  is  full  of  the  Messiah.  The 
revelations  announce  him  ;  events  and  historical 
personages  foretell  and  typify  him  ;  all  his  traits  are 
described  ;  the  day  of  his  coming  is  clearly  pointed 
out  ;  the  circumstances  of  his  birth,  his  life,  his  death, 
are  marked  in  detail,  and  even  with  minuteness.  The 
Jews,  says  an  historian  of  the  Church,  possessed  his 
very  signature  :  God  had  taken  four  thousand  years  to 
write  it.  And  at  length,  when  he  appeared,  the  voice 
of  heaven,  of  earth,  and  of  hell,  John  the  Baptist  and 
Pilate,  the  angels  and  the  devils,  thunder  and  miracles, 
all  cried  out  :  Behold  him  !  There  he  is  !  Ecce  Agnus 
Dei  !    Ecce  Homo  ! 

The  Jews  (but  not  all  of  them)  disowned  him  ;  they 


Introduction.  7  5 

are  yet  unmindful  of  him.  But  in  disavowing  him  they 
admit  that  they  expected  him  ;  and  their  peculiar  fate, 
which  they  could  not  remedy,  and  which  the  world 
was  not  able  to  complete,  being  also  foretold,  attests 
that  He  who  is  come  is  also  he  who  was  to  come.  The 
unbelievers  of  new  generations,  as  ungrateful  as  the 
Jews,  and  less  blinded,  ignore  this  brilliant  proof  of 
their  common  folly.  Embarrassed  by  the  testimony 
of  the  prophets,  at  one  time  they  eschew  those  great 
documents  and  Hebraical  history  ;  at  others  they  treat 
them  as  reveries,  as  wild  fancies  artfully  interpreted. 
The  entire  life  of  a  people  is  rendered  suspicious,  in 
defiance  of  the  most  certain  and  authenticated  monu- 
ments the  world  could  have  produced.  And  this  is 
done  for  the  purpose  of  putting  out  of  sight  the  very 
first  page  of  the  history  they  pretend  to  write.     What 

)  an  avowal  of  this  Godhead,  over  which  so  many  veils 

)  • 

S  must    be    thrown,    and    which    pierces    them    all    for 

)  ever  ! 

To  speak  correctly  and  truly,  the  history  of  Jesus 
Christ  has  no  commencement,  nor  will  it  have  an  end  : 
"  In  the  beginning  was  the  Word.  Of  his  reign  ther. 
shall  be  no  end."     But,  even  in  the  order  of  his  tern 

\  poral   manifestation,  Jesus    neither  commences  in   the 

crib  nor  does  he  end  on  the  cross.  He  proceeds  from 
the  creation  of  man  to  the  consummation  of  destined 
humanity — to  the  last  judgment.  The  Christ  was,  he 
is,  and  he  will  be.  When  the  slime  of  the  earth,  fash- 
ioned by  the  hands  of  God,  received  the  breath  of  God, 
and  became  a  living  flesh  united  to  an  immortal  soul, 
here  and  then  commences  the  temporal  life  of  Jesus 
with  the  life  of  the  Church,  according  to  the  saying  of 
St.  Epiphanius  :  "  The  beginning  of  all  things  is  the 
holy    Catholic    Church."       There    the    historian    com- 


76  Introduction. 

mences,  if  he  does  not  entirely  wish  to  betray  his  God, 
who  is  truth,  and  men,  who  stand  in  need  of  truth. 
All  the  evangelical  demonstrations  contain,  with  rea- 
son, this  history  of  Christianity  before  the  Christ.  Let 
us  pay  attention  to  a  short  summary  of  it. 

After  the  fall,  at  the  moment  when   driven  out  of 
Paradise,  Adam  and  Eve,  punished,  not  cursed,  under- 


stood  this  word  of  God  addressed  to  the  serpent,  organ 
of  the  spirit  of  darkness,  who  had  counselled  disobe- 
dience, and  who  had  triumphed:  "  I  will  put  enmities 
between  thee  and  the  woman,  and  thy  seed  and  her 
seed  :  she  shall  crush  thy  head,  and  thou  shalt  lie  in 
wait  for  her  heel."  These  are  the  words  which  the 
ancient  Jews  have  always  applied  to  the  Messiah.  "  It 
was,"  says  Bossuet,  "  by  this  divine  germ,  or  by  the 
woman  who  should  bring  forth  this  germ,  that  the  ruin 
of  the  human  race  should  be  repaired,  and  the  power 
of  the  prince  of  this  world  be  destroyed." 

Abraham  humbly  and  faithfully  obeys  God.  Through 
obedience  he  quits  his  country  to  go  into  a  land  God 
had  pointed  out  to  him.  And  God  said  to  him  :  "I  will 
cause  to  issue  forth  from  you  a  great  people,  and  I  will 
render  your  name  wonderful,  and  you  shall  be  blessed, 
and  all  the  people  shall  be  blessed  in  thee."  Soon  after 
God  puts  him  to  another  trial.  He  demands  of  him 
the  sacrifice  of  his  only  son,  born  when  Sarah  was  very 
old  and  a  long  time  barren.  Abraham  nevertheless 
obeys  ;  the  victim  is  tied  ;  he  is  about  to  be  immolated. 
God  arrests  the  stroke  :  "  By  my  own  self  have  I  sworn, 
saith  the  Lord  ;  because  thou  hast  done  this  thing,  and 
hast  not  spared  thy  only  begotten  son  for  my  sake  :  I 
will  bless  thee,  and  I  will  multiply  thy  seed  as  the  stars 
of  heaven,  and  as  the  sand  that  is  by  the  sea-shore: 
thy  seed  shall  possess  the  gates  of  their  enemies.    And 


Introduction.  7  7 

in  thy  seed  shall  all  the  nations  of  the  earth  be  blessed, 
because  thou  hast  obeyed  my  voice." 

The  same  promise  is  renewed  in  the  same  terms  to 
Isaac,  son  of  Abraham.  Jacob,  son  of  Isaac,  saw  in  the 
dream  of  the  mysterious  ladder,  whose  foot  was  placed 
on  the  earth,  and  whose  top  touched  the  heavens — 
"angels  of  God  ascending  and  descending  "—a  figure 
of  the  reconciliation  of  heaven  with  earth,  through  the 
incarnation  of  the  Word,  and  the  Lord  said  unto  him: 
"  I  am  the  Lord  God  of  Abraham  thy  father,  and  the 
God  of  Isaac  :  The  land  wherein  thou  sleepest,  I  will 
give  to  thee  and  to  thy  seed.  .  .  .  And  in  thee  and 
thy  seed  all  the  tribes  of  the  earth  shall  be  blessed." 

Jacob,  near  to  his  death,  foretold  the  destinies  of  his 
children.  He  speaks  of  Juda,  and  instantly  cries  out  : 
"  The  sceptre  shall  not  be  taken  away  from  Juda,  nor  a 
ruler  from  his  thigh,  till  he  come  that  is  to  be  sent,  and 
he  shall  be  the  expectation  of  nations." 

Having  related  these  promises,  which  he  could 
equally  have  known  by  tradition,  at  that  time  not  far 
removed,  or  by  divine  revelation,  Moses  is  filled  with 
the  Holy  Ghost,  and  predicts  in  his  turn  the  Liberator 
of  whom  he  was  the  true  and  imposing  type:  "And 
the  Lord  said  to  me  :  They  have  spoken  all  things  well. 
I  will  raise  them  up  a  prophet  out  of  the  midst  of  their 
brethren  like  to  thee  ;  and  I  will  put  my  words  in  his 
mouth,  and  he  shall  speak  all  that  I  shall  command  him. 
And  he  that  will  not  hear  his  words,  which  he  shall  speak 
in  my  name,  I  will  be  the  revenger."  Of  all  the  prophets 
who  have  appeared  after  Moses,  none  has  been  like 
him,  except  Jesus  Christ,  who  surpassed  him  in  every- 
thing. 

The  prophets  succeed  each  other,  and  traits  more 
and  more  precise  foreshadow  Him  "who  is  about  to 


fô  Introduction. 

come."  Micheas  salutes  the  humble  Bethlehem,  where 
first  he  will  see  the  light  ;  David  speaks  of  him  as  if  he 
were  present,  or  speaks  of  him  as  if  actually  contemplat- 
ing him  ;  Habacuc  is  overjoyed  in  Jesus,  the  Saviour- 
God  ;  Isaias  declares  that  he  will  be  of  the  race  of  Jesse 
(father  of  David);  that  he  will  be  born  of  a  virgin  ;  that 
he  will  be  called  God  with  us.  He  called  him  Christ, 
King  of  Israel.  The  name  of  Son  of  David  was  given 
him  by  Jeremias  and  by  Ezechiel.  Isaias  points  out 
the  object  of  his  mission,  depicts  his  sweetness,  de- 
scribes his  miracles,  and  beholds  him  in  humiliations, 
the  object  of  disdain  and  the  contempt  and  ridicule  of 
men. 

David  characterized  his  preaching.  Many  of  the 
prophets  described  his  Passion,  just  as  it  was  recounted 
by  the  Evangelists.  They  saw  in  it  the  council  of 
Jews,  the  betrayal  of  Judas,  the  agony  in  the  Garden 
of  Olives,  the  flight  of  the  disciples,  the  outrages  in  the 
house  of  the  high-priest,  the  thirty  pieces  of  silver 
given  to  the  Iscariot,  the  way  of  Calvary,  the  cruci- 
fixion, the  garment  for  which  lots  were  cast,  the  gall 
and  vinegar,  the  injuries  endured  even  on  the  cross, 
the  prayer  for  the  executioners,  the  last  cry — "  My 
God,  why  have  you  abandoned  me?  Father,  into  thy 
hands  I  commit  my  spirit." 

They  descried  afar  off  in  his  Passion  the  reprobation 
of  the  Jews,  the  resurrection,  and  the  triumph.  Daniel  : 
"  The  Christ  will  be  put  to  death,  and  the  people  who 
will  have  denied  him  shall  no  more  be  his  people." 
David  :  "  I  have  been  in  a  profound  sleep,  and  I 
awaked."  Isaias:  "At  that  time  the  branch  of  Jesse, 
elevated  as  a  sign  of  salvation  before  all  the  people, 
will  be  adored  by  the  nations,  and  his  sepulchre  will  be 
glorious."     David:  "Throughout  the  entire  earth   his 


Introduction.  7  g 

miracles  will  be  remembered,  and  it  will  be  converted  ! 

to  the  Lord,  and  the  immense  family  of  nations  will  be  < 

in  adoration   before  him.  ...  for  the  entire  posterity  \ 

yet  unborn  will  be  declared  to  belong  to  the  Lord. 
And  the  heavens  will  announce  his  justice  to  the  people 
yet  unborn,  to  the  people  whom  the  Lord  has  made." 
Malachias:  "  From  the  rising  to  the  setting  of  the  sun, 
my  name  is  great  among  the  nations,  and  they  will  sac- 
rifice me  in  all  places,  and  they  will  offer  to  my  name 
an  oblation  all  pure,  because  my  name  is  great  among 
the  nations,  says  the  Lord,  the  God  of  armies."  And 
there  the  prophets  are  silent  to  the  coming  of  John  the 
Baptist,  the  Precursor,  who  pointed  him  out  living, 
"  Behold  the  Lamb  of  God." 

There  is  yet  another  general  prophecy,  and  not  less 
striking  than  the  ardor  wherewith  the  prophets  sigh  for 
the  Messias.  Love  had  never  sweeter  or  more  penetrat- 
ing accents  :  "  Lord,"  says  Jacob,  "  I  will  live  on  the 
expectation  of  your  salvation  "  ;  "  Lord,"  says  Moses, 

)  "  I  implore  thee  send  down  him  whom  you  are  bound  ! 

to  send  "  ;  "  Arouse  your  strength,"  says  David,  "  and  J 

come   and   save   us  "  ;  "  Hasten   the  time,  hasten   the 

i  end,"  says  Ecclesiastes,    "  that  men  may  recount  your  j 

wonders";  "  Ye  heavens,  drop    down  dew,  rain   down 
the  Just  One,  and  let  the  earth  open  up  and  bring  forth 

j  its  Saviour." 

The  names  and  titles  which  thev  give  him,  the 
images  under  which  they  represent  him,  express  this 
same  love  and  prophecy  again.  The  Patriarch  Jacob 
calls  him  the  "  Desired  of  the  Eternal  Hills  "  ;  the 
Prophet  Aggeus,  the  "  Desired  of  all  the  Nations  "  ;  the 
Prophet  Isaias,  "  God  with  us,"  the  "  Father  of  the 
future  world,"  the  "  Prince  of  Peace."  Isaias  com- 
pares him  to  the  gentle  and   fertilizing  dew  which  be- 

) 

) 


8o  Introduction. 

dews  the  earth  and  ascends  to  heaven.  Osee  says 
his  uprising  is  like  the  morning  sun  ;  "  for,"  says  an 
interpreter,  "as  the  aurora  is  buta  half-sun  which  is 
momentarily  becoming  more  luminous,  till  it  bursts  out 
in  its  majestic  effulgence,  so  the  infant  Jesus  grows 
exteriorly  in  wisdom  and  grace  before  God  and  men  ; 
and  as  the  light  of  the  morning  is  very  pure  and  very 
agreeable,  and  very  mild  to  men,  fatigued  by  the  dark- 
ness of  a  long  night,  so  the  birth  of  Jesus  Christ  is 
the  mildest,  most  precious  aurora  that  comes  to  delight 
humanity,  plunged  for  four  thousand  years  in  the  re- 
gions of  death." 

Behold,  among  many  others,  a  few  traits  of  the 
character  of  the  Messias,  dictated  by  God  to  the 
prophets,  so  that  he  might  become  known  to  Israel 
and  to  the  world.  Without  doubt  all  that  regarded 
him  was  not  equally  clear,  and  could  only  receive 
from  himself  its  full  and  perfect  light  ;  and  doubt- 
less even  all  the  Jews,  congregated  in  great  numbers 
at  Rome  and  throughout  the  empire,  did  not  under- 
stand in  the  same  degree  what  might  have  been  un- 
derstood even  at  that  time.  He  was  known  well 
enough  to  wake  up  the  traditions  that  lay  dormant  in 
the  bosom  of  very  remote  history;  to  cause  more  rays 
of  light  to  penetrate  the  Gentiles  than  their  sages 
wished  to  receive  of  him.  We  now  know  how  it  is 
whence  came  the  idea  to  Socrates,  so  strange,  of  the  Just 
One  hated  and  nailed  to  the  cross  ;  we  now  compre- 
hand  how   Plato  and   Cicero  got  those  sublime  ideas  I 

touching  the  divinity  and  the  immortality  of  the  soul  ; 
and  of  what  voices  those  presentiments  of  the  people 
were  the  echoes,  the  supernatural  predictions,  an- 
nouncing the  King  who  established  himself  in  Judea, 


Introduction.  8 1 

the  wondrous  Babe  who  changed  the  course  of  things, 

and  established  a  new  order. 

For  us,  who  came  in  the  order    of   time,   God   has 

manifested   to    us  the    fulness  of    those  wonders  ;    we 

can  compare  the  original  to  the  portrait  executed   in 

advance,  and  the  portrait  appears  to   us  so  much  the 

more   finished.     A   writer  ingeniously   brings   out   the 

miraculous    nature    of   this    divine   work:   "Figure   to 

)  yourself  an  excellent   statue   formed  of   many   pieces,  ( 

inlaid  and  chiselled  by  many  sculptors  at  divers  times  : 

)  the  one  commences  the   head  at   the  first  age  of  the 

) 

world  ;    the  other    forms   the   body  a   thousand   years 

after  ;  another  comes  afterwards  who  makes  an  arm  ; 
another  a  foot,  then  another  a  hand.     Each  one  makes 
)  part  of  it,  so  that   not   one  of  those   learned  masters 

knows  anything  of  the  work  of  his  companions  ;  and, 
nevertheless,  putting  all  together,  you  will  find  the  true 
-,  form  and  figure  of  the  Messias;  that  this  statue,  made 

\  a  long  time  before  his  birth,  represents  him  in  every 

\  particular  just  as    he  was  when    he  conversed  among 

men.  You  would  say  those  prophets  always  lived  with 
him,  that  they  acted  in  concert,  not  only  among  them- 
selves, but  with  the  Evangelists,  so  great  is  the  relation 
between  what  the  latter  recounted  as  passed  and  what 
I  the  former  predicted  as  about  to  happen."  ( 

This  harmony  has  been  clearly  perceived.     Indeed,  < 

|  and    in   order  to   avoid   seeing  it,  some  sa7-nnts   have 

)  boldly  plunged  themselves  into  the  ridiculous.     They  ( 

have  said  that  many  prophecies  have  been  introduced  ? 

or  interpolated  ;  and,  as  this  invention  gave  them  small  ( 

chance   of  keeping   up   the   falsehood,   since    the    Old  [ 

Testament  has  a  certain  fixed  date,  many  centuries 
anterior  to  Christ,  others  have  explained  the  mystery 
by  advancing  that  the  Gospel  had  been  manufactured 


4 


82  Introduction. 

from  the  prophecies.  Later  historians  circle  as  much 
as  they  dare  around  this  system,  and  the  science  of 
negation  springs  from  it.  But  this  system  does  not 
procure  for  them  any  great  advantages,  many  of  the 
prophecies  of  the  Old  and  New  Testament  not  having 
received  their  fulfilment  until  a  long  time  after  the 
nearest  epoch  wherein  it  could  be  possible  to  place 
the  Gospel  story.  It  must  be  avowed  that  these 
falsifiers,  if  they  were  learned  enough  to  have  conceiv- 
ed their  Christ  from  the  model  prophecies,  have  more- 
over been  themselves  prophets. 

Such  objections  are  shameful.  Let  us  lay  them 
aside,  and  recall  the  last  prophecy  given  by  God  to 
compel  incredulity  to  shelter  itself  in  unreasoning 
denial.  At  a  distance  of  fifteen  hundred  years  the 
prophet  Daniel  fixes  the  very  year,  and  probably  the 
very  day,  of  the  advent  of  the  Messiah. 

"  During  the  captivity  [of  Babylon]  Daniel  saw  in 
order,  at  different  times  and  under  various  figures,  four 
monarchies  under  which  the  Israelites  were  obliged  to 
live.  He  marked  them  by  their  proper  characters.  We 
see  rushing  along  like  a  mighty  torrent  the  empire  of 
Alexander,  king  of  the  Greeks.  Through  its  fall  we 
behold  another  empire  established,  less  than  his  and 
weakened  by  its  divisions  ;  it  is  that  of  his  successors. 
We  behold  coming  forth  at  last  in  all  its  grandeur  the 
'  reign  of  the  Son  of  Man.'  By  this  name  you  ac- 
knowledge Jesus  Christ  ;  but  this  reign  of  the  Son  of 
Man  is  also  called  'the  reign  of  the  saints  of  the  Most 
High.'  All  peoples  are  subject  to  this  great  and 
pacific  kingdom  ;  eternity  is  promised  to  it,  and  it 
must  be  the  only  one  whose  power  will  never  pass 
away  to  any  other  empire.  God  clearly  discovers  to 
Daniel  when  this  Son  of  Man  shall  come,  this  Jesus  so 


r~ 


Introduction, 


33 


long  desired,  and  how  he  will  accomplish  the  work 
committed  to  him — that  is  to  say,  the  redemption  of 
the  human  race.  Whilst  Daniel  was  occupied  with 
the  captivity  of  his  people  in  Babylon,  and  the  seventy 
years  it  pleased  God  to  detain  them  therein,  amid  the 
sighs  and  invocations  he  poured  forth  to  God  for  the 
deliverance  of  his  brethren,  he  is  suddenly  elevated  to 
the  highest  mysteries.  He  sees  another  number  of 
years  and  another  deliverance  far  more  important. 
Instead  of  the  seventy  years  predicted  by  Jeremias  he 
sees  seventy  weeks,  commencing  from  the  ordinance 
of  Artaxerxes,  about  the  twentieth  year  of  his  reign,  to 
rebuild  the  city  of  Jerusalem.  Here  is  pointed  out,  in 
precise  terms,  at  the  end  of  these  weeks,  the  remission 
of  sins,  the  eternal  reign  of  justice,  the  entire  accom- 
plishment of  the  prophecies,  and  the  anointing  of  the 
Holy  of  Holies.  Christ  must  assume  his  charge  and 
appear  as  conductor  of  the  people  after  sixty-nine 
weeks.  After  sixty-nine  weeks  [for  the  prophet  re- 
peats it]  the  Christ  will  be  put  to  death  ;  he  will  die 
a  cruel  death.  He  will  be  immolated  on  the  cross  to 
fulfil  the  mysteries.  One  week  is  marked  out  among 
others — it  is  the  last,  the  seventieth  ;  it  is  that  wherein 
Christ  will  be  immolated,  wherein  the  covenant  will  be 
confirmed,  and  in  the  middle  of  which  offerings  and 
sacrifices  shall  be  abolished — without  doubt,  through 
the  death  of  Christ,  because  it  is  in  consequence  of  the 
death  of  Christ  that  this  change  is  marked.  After 
this  death  of  Christ  and  the  abolition  of  sacrifices  we 
behold  only  horror  and  confusion  ;  we  behold  the  de- 
struction of  the  holy  city  and  of  the  sanctuary,  a 
people  and  a  general  who  come  to  destroy  everything, 
the  abomination  in  the  temple,  the  last,  irremediable 
desolation  of  a  people  ungrateful  to  their  Saviour. 


84  Introduction. 

"These  weeks,  reduced  into  weeks  of  years  accord- 
ing to  Scriptural  usage,  make  four  hundred  and  ninety 
years,  and  lead  us  precisely  from  the  twentieth  year 
of  Artaxerxes  to  the  last  week — a  week  full  of  mys- 
teries in  which  Jesus  Christ,  immolated,  put  an  end  by 
his  death  to  the  sacrifices  of  the  law,  and  fulfilled  its 
types  and  figures. 

"  The  learned  make  different  calculations  to  make 
this  time  quite  exact.  There  is  nothing  surprising  in 
that,  since  there  is  found  some  uncertainty  in  the 
dates  ;  and  a  few  years  on  which  they  were  able  to 
dispute  about  a  reckoning  (four  hundred  and  ninety 
years)  would  never  make  an  important  question.  God 
has  decided  the  difficulty,  if  there  were  any,  by  a 
decision  which  admits  of  no  reply.  A  manifest  event 
places  us  beyond  and  above  all  the  subtilities  of  chro- 
nologists  ;  and  the  total  ruin  of  the  Jews,  which  follow- 
ed a  little  after  the  death  of  our  Lord,  demonstrate  to 
x  the  most  short-sighted  the  fulfilment  of  the  prophecy."* 

The  weeks  of  Daniel  reach  to  their  term,  and  already 
the   sign  indicated   by  Jacob  strikes  every  eye.     The 
sceptre    is   departed    from    Juda.     On    the    throne  of 
\  David,  Herod,  a  stranger  to  the  royal  blood,  and  even 

!  to  the  blood  of  Israel,  reigns  a  tyrant  by  the  favor  of 

the  Romans.     The  policy  of   Herod    embellishes  the 
temple  and  dishonors  the  priesthood.     He  has  put  up 
S  to    public    auction    the    sovereign    pontificate.     Alter- 

nately changed,  established,  deposed,  by  the  prince  or 
by    the   Roman    governor,   the  high-priest   is   but   the 
I  ephemeral    creature  and    the  sport  of   these  intruded 

I  powers.     Religion  declines  amid  the  pomp  of  ceremon- 

\  ies.    The  sects  become  numerous,  and  fill  with  bitter  con- 

)  *  Bossuet,  Dis.  on  Univ.  History. 


"1 


Introduction.  85 

J 

\  tests  the  city,  the  schools,  and  even  the  interior  of  the 

s  temple.      The   Sadducees,    rich,    unbelieving,    cynical,  ) 

inculcate  contempt  of  the  law.  The  Pharisees,  full 
of  pride  and  hard-heartedness,  outrage  it  in  another 
manner,  by  overloading  it  with  insupportable  practices, 
overpowering  to  the  weak  and  odious  to  reason  ;  the 
Esscnians,  imposing  on  themselves  the  rules  of  an 
austere  life,  chain  legitimate  liberty,  but  in  compensa- 
tion they  free  themselves  from  the  precepts,  reject  the 
traditions,  and  pretend  to  honor  God  without  offering 
sacrifice.  Great  immoralities  follow  from  this  disorder 
of  minds — sure  sicrn  that  those  doctrinaires  are  not 
ignorant.  In  the  hearts  of  the  just  and  the  wise  the 
presentiment  of  a  catastrophe  is  mingled  with  the  cer- 
tainty of  expectation.  ( 

All  are  awaiting  it.  As  regards  the  Messias  there 
are  no  unbelievers;  but,  at  the  same  time,  mostly  all 
lose  by  degrees  a  true  notion  of  the  divine  embassa- 
dor. National  pride  contributed  thereto  no  less  than 
sectarian  spirit.  The  domination  of  the  Romans, 
though  relatively  moderate,  exasperated  a  people  who 
were  not  without  reasons  for  esteeming  themselves 
above  their  arrogant  masters.  Besides  their  rapacity 
and  cruelty,  they  were  reproached  for  their  sacrilege. 
Their  insolence  had  oftentimes  violated  religious 
usages.  The  Messias  was  therefore  especially  ex- 
pected as  their  avenger.  The  Jews  accustomed  them- 
selves to  believe  that  the  Desired  of  nations  would 
come  with  an  army,  terrible  and  triumphant,  to  satisfy 
their  cupidity,  and  to  substitute  them  as  the  masters 
of  the  world.  Thus  in  those  hearts,  turned  towards 
the  earth  at  the  very  time  the  light  was  about  to  dawn, 
a  darkness  arose  thicker  than  had  been  their  night. 
The  Messias  will  say,  ''  Blessed  are  the  pure  of  heart  "  ; 


Introduction. 


and   those  only  will   see  him  who  will   ask,  not   their 
kingdom,  but  his. 

However,  peace  reigned  in  Judea,  as  it  did  every- 
where else.  Augustus  had  subdued  all  seditions  in 
Rome,  all  revolts  in  the  world.  The  doctrinal  tu- 
mults of  Jerusalem,  quelled  by  a  sense  of  expectation, 
troubled  not  this  general  state  of  tranquillity.  No 
longer  was  any  party  politically  formidable  at  Jerusa- 
lem. This  was  a  rare  instance  in  history.  Rome  pos- 
sessed a  hypocritical  temple  among  those  she  raised 
up — the  Temple  of  Peace,  whose  portals  remained  open 
as  a  continual  form  of  prayer  during  the  war,  to  recall 
banished  peace.  But  from  Numa  to  Augustus,  seven 
centuries,  the  Temple  of  Peace  had  been  closed  but 
twice,  and  then  but  for  a  short  time.  However,  to 
demonstrate  at  what  price  might  alone  can  pacify, 
twice  again  the  homicidal  hand  of  Augustus  was 
pleased  to  close  the  dreadful  portals,  or  rather  Augus- 
tus had  clogged  them  up  with  the  dead  bodies  of 
the  citizens.  They  were  reopened,  and  he  once  more 
closes  them  ;  and  to  do  this  he  employs  the  sword  of 
Tiberius.  By  his  wars  in  Germany  Tiberius  becomes 
the  enactor  of  what  one  may  call  the  first  evangelical 
fact  —  he  makes  the  din  of  arms  cease,  and  in  the 
midst  of  the  silence  God  whispers  forth  the  word  of 
the  true  and  eternal  peace.  The  empire  commences  to 
accomplish  the  designs  of  God.  Henceforth,  whether 
it  likes  it  or  not,  it  can  no  longer  act  any  other  part. 
The  deeds  of  war,  the  only  resounding  events  of 
antiquity,  are  everywhere  silent  ;  it  has  been  predicted 
the  earth  would  enjoy  peace  at  the  hour  to  which  we 
now  approach.  Hour  of  joyful  song,  hour  of  triumphs  ! 
At  Rome,  Horace  and  Virgil  sing  at  the  feet  of  the 
conquerors,  Tiberius  and  Augustus;  in  Judea,  beneath 


Introduction. 


8/ 


the  crib  wherein  reposes  a  poor,  new-born  Infant,  ce- 
lestial voices,  heard  only  by  a  few  shepherds,  are  about 
to  intone  the  summary  of  the  eternal  Gospel  :  "  Glory 
to  the  Most  High  God,  peace  to  men  of  good-will!  " 

This  was  a  solemn  hour  for  all  nature.  In  the  vast 
firmament  the  stars  have  not  deviated  from  their 
course;  there  was  nothing  to  repair;  no  perturbation 
shook  those  inviolable  kingdoms  from  their  regularity. 
Nevertheless,  there  is  a  circumstance  about  to  signalize 
the  advent  of  the  new  Adam,  of  the  new  Moses,  of  the 
new  Josue,  of  the  Man  whom  the  demons,  and  the  an- 
gels, and  the  wind,  and  the  sea,  and  the  planets,  and  all 
created  things  are  to  obey.  This  circumstance  was  the 
universal  jubilee  of  the  planets.  All  at  this  moment 
had  accomplished  their  revolutions,  and  held  them- 
selves ready  for  labor  or  rest  ;  all,  obedient,  set  out 
again  for  a  new  course,  the  same  as  the  day  on  which 
the  Word  of  God  having  called  them  from  nothing, 
each  one  by  his  name,  each  one  answers,  "  Behold,  here 
I  am,"  and  takes  the  route  which  has  been  marked  out 
for  him. 

lie  who  has  created  the  world  is  about  to  appear, 
living  our  life  in  the  infirmity  of  our  flesh.  It  is  the 
God  whom  we  seek,  it  is  the  Man  who  is  going  to 
manifest  himself.  But  the  Man  manifests  himself  only 
to  raise  us  up  to  God.  We  will  have  no  difficulty  in 
acknowledging  him.  However,  let  us  ask  of  him  a 
good-will. 

Jesus  is  now  no  more  concealed  or  disguised  ;  he 
has  passed  through  the  world  in  infirmity  ;  he  now 
dwells  in  glory.  But  for  nineteen  centuries  this  Sun, 
always  more  brilliant,  encounters  blindness  and  dark- 
ness more  obscure.  Such  is  the  mystery  of  human 
liberty  ;    in    the   presence  of  evidence   it  preserves  the 


merit  of  believing  :  it  has  the  dreadful  power  of  deny- 
ing. If,  having  conspired  to  remain  in  darkness,  we 
have  not  the  desire  to  depart  from  it,  let  us  ask  the 
aid  of  grace.  Our  reason  is  subject  to  troubles  which 
the  intellect  cannot  formulate,  nor  divine,  nor  ap- 
proach. Prayer  obtains  grace  ;  grace  brings  with  it 
light  and  truth.  Let  us  pronounce  the  powerful  words 
which  the  Holy  Ghost  has  suggested  to  us  to  conquer 
ourselves  and  to  overcome  God,  as  the  mother  suggests 
to  the  guilty  child  the  word  which  the  father  requires 
before  pardoning  so  much  ignorance  and  obstinacy. 
Let  us  not  be  so  headstrong  against  the  divine  mercy  ; 
let  us  not  refuse  salvation.  We  can  always  say  : 
"  Lord,  grant  I  may  see."  We  always  believe  enough, 
and  always  little  enough,  to  give  us  cause  to  repeat 
that  word  addressed  to  Jesus  :  "  I  believe,  Lord  ;  help 
my  unbelief." 


BOOK    I. 


THE  rROLOGUE    OF    THE   GOSPEL. 


CHAPTER   I 


NAZARETH— BETHLEHEM— THE   JORDAN. 

ZACHARY  the  priest,  and  his  wife  Elizabeth,  both 
just  and  irreproachable  before  God,  had  no 
posterity,  nor  did  they  expect  any,  on  account  of  their 
very  advanced  age,  and  because  Elizabeth  was  barren. 
One  day,  as  Zachary,  selected  by  lot,  exercised  his 
office  in  the  Temple,  the  angel  of  the  Lord  appeared  to 
him,  and  told  him  that  his  prayer  was  heard;  that 
Elizabeth  would  present  to  him  a  son,  whom  he  would 
call  John.  The  angel  added  that  this  son  should  be 
great,  filled  with  the  Holy  Ghost  in  his  mother's 
womb,  and  would  walk  before  the  Lord  with  the 
power  of  the  prophet  Elias,  to  prepare  mankind  to 
receive  the  Holy  One. 

Zachary  doubtless  did  not  ask  a  favor  which  he  con- 
sidered impossible  to  obtain,  and  confined  himself  to 
praver  for  the  coming  of  the  Messias.  He  was  frigh- 
1      J  89 


9o 


The  Life  of  our  Lord  yesus  Christ. 


tened,  not  having  understood  the  announcement  of  the 
angel,  and  did  not  believe  him.  The  angel -reproached 
him  for  his  incredulity,  and  declared  to  him  that  God, 
in  order  to  punish  him,  would  render  him  mute  till 
the  accomplishment  of  the  thing  predicted  ;  and 
Zachary  departs  from  the  Temple  pale  and  voiceless. 
His  appearance  made  known  that  he  had  had  a  vision. 
Elizabeth  conceives.  Humbly  retired,  she  gives  thanks 
to  God,  who  took  away  from  her  the  opprobrium  of 
her  barrenness. 

Six  months  after,  the  Angel  Gabriel,  the  same  who 
appeared  to  Zachary,  was  sent  by  God  to  a  virgin  of 
the  race  of  David,  who  remained  at  Nazareth,  in  Gali- 
lee. She  was  called  Mary.  Sweet,  tender  orphan,  she 
had  been  brought  up  in  the  Temple.  A  little  while 
after  the  high-priest,  or,  according  to  others,  those  who 
adopted  her,  betrothed  her  to  Joseph,  a  just  man,  much 
older  than  she  was,  and,  like  her,  of  the  blood  of 
David.  Joseph  worked  for  a  living;  his  occupation 
was  that  of  a  carpenter.  Mary  was  then  fourteen  years 
of  age. 

The  angel  presents  himself  before  this  virgin,  say- 
ing to  her:  "  I  salute  you,  O  full  of  grace!  Thou  art 
blessed  among  women,  and  the  Lord  is  with  thee." 
He  then  announces  to  her  Him  who  would  be  born  of 
her,  adding  that  she  should  call  him  Jesus — that  is, 
the  Saviour. 

Accustomed,  as  it  appears,  to  the  vision  of  angels, 
but  not  prepared  for  the  solemnity  of  such  a  message, 
the  humble  daughter  of  David  is  troubled.  She  doubts 
not,  like  Zachary.  Her  prudent  response  was  that  she 
had  made  a  vow  to  God  to  remain  during  her  life  a 
virgin,  and  that  she  would  not  nor  could  not  violate  it. 
The  ancfel  then   informed   her  how  she  would  become 


The  Life  of  our  Lord  j/'esus  Christ.  9 1 

a  mother  by  the  power  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  and  that 
therefore  the  Holy  One  who  should  be  born  of  her 
should  be  called  the  Son  of  God.  He  made  known  to 
her  "  that  she  whom  they  called  barren  "  was  in  the 
sixth  month  of  her  pregnancy — because  it  was  proper 
that  Mary  should  know  before  all  others  the  secret  of 
the  miraculous  conception  of  the  Precursor.  Mary, 
having  understood  these  things,  said  :  "  Behold  the 
]  handmaid  of  the  Lord;  be  it  done  to  me  according  to 

thy  word."     And  the  angel  left  her. 

"  Behold  the  servant  of  the  Lord."  In  pronouncing 
this  word  of  humility,  the  word  that  accomplished  our 
salvation,  Mary  was  the  echo  of  the  incarnate  God. 
By  the  lips  of  David,  predicting  his  coming  on  the 
earth,  he  calls  himself,  not  the  son  of  the  virgin,  but 
the  son  of  the  handmaid  :  "  Ego  servus  tuus  et  filius  an- 
\  cillai  tuœ."     As  soon  as  Mary  is  acquainted  with  the 

\  designs  of  God    the   mystery  of  the  incarnation  is  ac- 

complished.    "  And   the   Word  was    made    Flesh  and 
dwelt  amongst  us." 

Instructed  by  the  revelation  of  the  angel,  and  obey- 
ing the  inspiration  of  Him  who  already  dwelt  in  her, 
the  Virgin  Mary  with  haste  goes  to  the  mountainous 
country  at  Hebron,  where  Elizabeth  dwelt.  Jesus  was 
anxious  to  sanctify  his  precursor  by  his  hidden  pre- 
sence. On  entering  the  house  Mary  salutes  her  cousin. 
Instantly  the  child  leaps  in  the  womb  of  Elizabeth,  and 
Elizabeth  herself  was  filled  with  the  Holy  Ghost. 

Addressing  herself  to  Mary,  she  cries  out  with  a  loud 
voice:  "  Blessed  art  thou  among  women  ;  and  blessed  is 
the  fruit  of  thy  womb.  And  whence  is  this  to  me,  that 
the  mother  of  my  Lord  should  come  to  me?  For  be- 
hold, as  soon  as  the  voice  of  thy  salutation  sounded  in 
my  ears,  the  infant  in  my  womb  leaped   for  joy.     And 


^J 


g 2  The  Life  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ. 

blessed  art  thou  that  hast  believed  ;  because  those 
things  shall  be  accomplished  that  were  spoken  to  thee  \ 

by  the  Lord."  Mary  bursts  forth  in  this  sublime  can- 
ticle :  "My  soul  doth  magnify  the  Lord:  and  my 
spirit  hath  rejoiced  in  God  my  Saviour:  because  he  hath 
regarded  the  humility  of  his  handmaid  :  for,  behold, 
from  henceforth  all  generations  shall  call  me  blessed. 
For  he  that  is  mighty  hath  done  great  things  to  me  : 
and  holy  is  his  name.  And  his  mercy  is  from  genera- 
tion to  generation,  to  them  that  fear  him.  He  hath 
showed  might  in  his  arm  :  he  hath  scattered  the  proud 
in  the  conceit  of  their  heart.  He  hath  put  down  the 
mighty  from  their  seat,  and  hath  exalted  the  humble. 
He  hath  filled  the  hungry  with  good  things:  and  the 
rich  he  hath  sent  away  empty.  He  hath  received 
Israel  his  servant,  being  mindful  of  his  mercy.  As  he 
spoke  to  our  fathers,  to  Abraham  and  to  his  seed  for 
ever."  The  term  of  Elizabeth  having  arrived,  she  gives 
to  the  world  a  soil.  On  the  day  of  the  circumcision, 
which  was  the  eighth,  the  relatives  wished  to  give  him 
the  name  of  his  father.  Elizabeth  demanded  that  he 
should  be  called  John,  which  Zachary,  yet  dumb,  con- 
firmed by  writing:  "John  is  his  name."  At  that 
instant  the  tongue  of  Zachary  is  loosened,  and  he 
prophesies  and  blesses  the  God  of  Israel  for  having 
been  mindful  of  his  mercies  toward  his  people,  and  for 
having  raised  up  for  them  a  Saviour  of  the  house  of 
David.  And  addressing  himself  to  his  son,  he  tells  him 
that  he  will  walk  before  the  Lord  to  prepare  for  him 
the  way,  so  that  the  remission  of  sins  may  be  obtained 
from  this  rising  Sun  who  is  coming  to  enlighten  the 
darkness  and  the  shadow  of  death,  and  to  direct  our 
feet  in  the  way  of  peace. 

The  rumor  of  these  things  is   spread  throughout  the 


The  Life  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ.  93 

mountains   of    Judea,  and    men    say  one   to    another: 

"  What,  think  you,  will  this  Child  become?  " 

Mary,  on  her  return  to  Nazareth,  remained  in  silence, 
relying  entirely  on  her  God.  And  Joseph,  instructed 
in  a  dream  by  the  angel  of  the  Lord,  kept  his  spouse, 
whom  he  had  thought  of  putting  away.  He  knew 
then  that  the  Son  of  the  Virgin  should  be  called  Jesus 
because  he  would  be  the  Saviour  of  Israel.  Joseph, 
just  and  pious,  versed  in  the  Scriptures,  knew  then 
that  what  was  going  to  happen  would  fulfil  the  prophe- 
cies of  Isaias  :  "  Behold,  a  virgin  shall  be  with  child, 
and  give  to  the  world  a  son." 

There  was  another  prophecy  to  be  accomplished.  It 
was  written  that  the  child  should  be  born  at  Bethlehem 


> 
) 

N 

) 
) 
) 
) 

of  Juda.     A  pressing   circumstance   obliged  Joseph  to 
quit  Galilee  and  come  to  this  city  with  Mary,  although 
she  was  near  her   confinement.       Bethlehem  being  the 
) 


place  of  David,  their  common  ancestor,  there  they  were 
obliged  to  have  their  names  recorded  for  the  general 
enrolment  commanded  by  the  Emperor  Augustus. 
Therefore  they  came  to  Bethlehem,  whilst  a  throng  of 
strangers  flocked  to  it  from  Jerusalem,  where  they 
were  celebrating  the  feast,  and,  finding  no  place  where- 
in to  lodge,  they  sought  refuge  in  a  grotto  in  the  field. 
There  it  was  in  the  middle  of  the  night,  without  suf- 
fering any  of  the  pains  and  sorrows  of  childbirth— as 
the  sun  emits  his  light,  and  as  the  flower  sheds  its  fra- 
grance— that  Mary  brought  forth  to  the  world  her  first- 
born and  only  Son— he  whom  St.  John  calls  the  "  only- 
begotten  Son  of  the  Father,"  and  St.  Paul  "the  first- 
born of  God."  She  wraps  him  up  in  swaddling  clothes 
and  places  him  in  a  manger.  Tradition  gathers  round 
this  cradle  an  ox  and  an  ass,  whose  breath  gave  warmth 
to  the  new-born  Babe.    Those  animals  had  been  led  by 


94  The  Life  of  our  Lord  Jïsus  Christ. 

Joseph — the  ass  to  serve  the  purpose  of  carrying  Mary, 
the  ox  to  be  sold  and  to  defray  the  expenses  of  the 
journey.  Isaias  has  said  :  "  The  ox  knows  him  to 
whom  he  belongs  ;  the  ass  its  master's  stable." 

The  field  wherein  Jesus  was  born  was  the  property 
of  the  Temple.  On  it  they  fattened  cattle  destined  for 
the  sacrifice.     Shepherds  were  there,  too,  who  watched  ;> 

during  the  night.  Suddenly  those  men  beheld  an 
angel  encircled  by  a  luminous  cloud  of  heavenly  light. 
The  angel  told  them  not  to  fear,  but  rather  to  rejoice  ; 
for  he  came  to  announce  to  them  a  great  joy.  "  To- 
day," he  continues,  "  in  the  city  of  David,  a  Saviour  is 
born  to  you,  and  he  is  the  Christ  our  Lord.  Behold 
the  sign  by  which  you  shall  know  him  :  You  will  find 
an  Infant  wrapped  up  in  swaddling  clothes  and  laid  in 
a  manger."  Instantly  numerous  troops  of  the  heavenly 
host  unite  themselves  to  the  angel,  causing  the  air  to 
resound  with  the  song  :  "  Glory  be  to  God  in  the  high- 
est heaven,  and  peace  on  earth  to  men  of  good-will." 

The  shepherds  say  one  to  the  other:  "Let 'us  go 
over  to  Bethlehem." 

They  find  Mary  and  Joseph,  and  the  Child  laid  in  the 
crib,  and  they  acknowledge  the  truth  of  what  had  been 
told    them.      Immediately,  having   returned    to    their  \ 

flocks,  they  published  what  they  had  heard  and  what 
they  had  seen.  > 

Mary  lost   nothing    of  those   things,  and   treasured  \ 

them  up  in  her  heart.  \ 

Some  time  after  men  from  the  East  called  Magi,  on 
account  of  their  knowledge,  appeared  at  Jerusalem. 
They  said  the  King  of  the  Jews  had  been  born,  because  ( 

they  had  seen  his  star,  and  they  asked  where  they 
could  find  him,  having  come  to  adore  him.  Their 
presence  puts  the  whole    city  in  commotion.     Herod, 


The  Life  of  our  Lord  ycsus  Christ.  95 

King  of  the  Jews,  is  quite  anxious  to  speak  with  them. 
He  was  a  suspicious,  cruel,  and   deceitful  prince.      Be-  ( 

lieving  that  he  was  about  to  have  a  competitor  to  his 
royalty,  he  enquires  diligently  where  the  Christ  was  to 
be  born.  The  ancients,  scribes,  and  priests  all  answer 
him:    "At   Bethlehem    of   Juda."      Herod    sends  off  [ 

the  Magi  there,  after  having  besought  them  to  inform 
him  where  they  had  seen  the  child,  in  order,  said  he, 
that  he  might  be  able  to  adore  him.  Joyful  and  con- 
fidant, the  Magi  departed.  The  star  which  guided 
them  to  Jerusalem,  presenting  itself  again,  conducts 
them  to  the  place  where  Jesus  was.  .They  found  the 
Child  and  his  mother.  Having  adored  him,  they 
offered  him  gold,  frankincense,  and  myrrh  ;  then, 
warned  in  a  dream  not  to  see  Herod  again,  they  re- 
turned to  their  own  country  by  another  route. 

The  Judaical  circumcision  had  taken  place  eight 
days  after  his  birth.  The  fortieth  day  was  fixed  for 
the  double  ceremony  of  the  purification  of  the  mother 
and  the  presentation  of  the  Child.  Every  first-born 
male,  being  consecrated  to  the  Lord,  should  be  re- 
deemed with  an  offering  of  silver,  in  memory  of  the 
deliverance  from  Egyptian  bondage.  The  parents  of 
Jesus  therefore  brought  him  to  the  Temple  to  fulfil  the 
law.  At  the  same  moment,  urged  on  by  the  inspira- 
tion of  the  Holy  Ghost,  a  just  man,  who  expected  the 
consolation  of  Israel,  arrives  at  his  side  of  the  Temple. 
X  He  was  named  Simeon.     It  had  been  revealed  to  him 

that  he  should  not  die  until  he  saluted  the  Christ. 

Simeon,  having  seen  the  child  Jesus,  took  him  into 
his  arms,  and  instantly  burst  forth  in  acts  of  thanks. 
"It  is  time,"  says  he,  "O  Lord!  that,  according  to 
your  word,  you  would  let  your  servant  depart  in  peace  ; 
for   behold    my  eyes    hath    seen    the    salvation  which 


L 


96  The  Life  of  our  Lord  yesus  Christ. 

comes  of  you,  the  light  which  is  revealed  to  the  na- 
tions, the  salvation  of  Israel  your  people."  The  ven- 
erable old  man  blesses  Mary  and  Joseph,  and,  divinely 
enlightened,  he  prophesies.  Addressing  himself  only 
to  Mary,  he  says  to  her:  "Behold  this  child  here 
present  has  been  born  and  placed  in  the  world  for  the 
destruction  and  salvation  of  many  in  Israel.  He  will 
be  set  up  for  a  sign  of  contradiction,  that  out  of  many 
hearts  the  truth  may  be  revealed  ;  and  you,  his  mother, 
your  soul  shall  be  pierced  with  a  sword  of  grief." 

There  was  there  also  a  prophetess  called  Anna, 
daughter  of  Phanuel.  She  was  a  widow,  aged  eighty- 
four.  Since  the  death  of  her  husband,  whom  she  had 
espoused  when  a  virgin,  she  departed  not  from  the 
Temple,  where  she  passed  the  nights  and  days  in  prayer 
and  fasting.  She  also  saw  Jesus,  and  she  also  praised 
the  Lord,  speaking  of  the  Child  to  all  who  awaited  the 
redemption  of  Israel. 

After  these  things,  all  that  the  law  required  being 
executed,  the  angel  of  the  Lord  appeared  to  Joseph 
in  sleep,  and  commanded  him  to  flee  into  Egypt,  be- 
cause Herod  sought  the  Child  to  put  him  to  death. 
Joseph  obeys  without  delay  ;  and  whilst  Jesus  thus 
escapes,  Herod,  having  learned  of  the  departure  of  the 
Magi,  caused  all  the  male  children  around  Bethlehem 
up  to  the  age  of  two  years  to  be  put  to  death.  Herod 
dies  some  years  after  this  crime.  Then,  by  a  fresh 
warning  of  the  angel,  received  in  a  dream  like  the  pre- 
ceding ones,  Joseph  brings  back  the  Child  into  Israel. 
But  because  Archelaus,  son  of  Herod,  reigned  over 
Israel,  he  dare  not  go  there,  and,  always  obedient  to 
the  divine  admonitions,  he  establishes  his  dwelling  at 
Nazareth  of  Galilee.  This  was  the  will  of  God,  so  that 
those  words  might  be  fulfilled  :  "  I  have  called  my  Son 


The  Life  of  our  Lord  Jïsui   Christ. 


97 


from   Egypt  "  ;  and  elsewhere,   "  He   will    be   called  a 
Nazarene. 

The  Gospel  relates  but  one  fact  more  of  the  infancy 
of  Jesus.  At  twelve  years,  age  of  precepts,  his  parents 
conducted  him  to  Jerusalem  for  the  Passover;  but, 
when  they  were  journeying  home,  he  remained  in  the 
city  for  a  whole  day.  Neither  Joseph  nor  Mary  per- 
ceived his  absence,  because  the  men  and  women 
travelled  in  separate  bands,  and  each  thought  he  was 
with  the  other.  Retracing  their  steps,  in  vain  they 
sought  him  for  three  days.  At  length  they  found  him 
where  he  ought  to  be — in  the  Temple,  seated  in  the 
midst  of  the  doctors,  whom  he  heard  and  interrogated, 
manifesting  to  them  a  wisdom  that  filled  them  with 
admiration.  His  mother  said  to  him  :  "  My  son,  why 
have  you  acted  thus  with  us  ?  Behold,  we  have  sought 
you  quite  sorrowful,  your  father  and  myself."  He 
answered  them  :  "  Why  have  ye  sought  me  ?  Did  you 
not  know  that  it  was  necessary  I  should  be  employed 
about  the  business  of  my  Father."  They  did  not 
understand  the  service  or  business  about  which  he 
spoke  ;  but  his  mother  preserved  the  remembrance  of 
all.  Forthwith  he  follows  them  to  Nazareth,  and  was 
subject  to  them.  And  he  grows  in  age  and  grace  be- 
fore God  and  man. 

In  the  meantime  the  son  of  Zachary  and  Elizabeth 
had  from  his  infancy  retired  into  the  wilderness.  He 
there  led  a  life  the  most  mortified,  clothed  with  sack- 
cloth, praying  and  fasting  ;  unknown  in  that  solitude, 
as  was  Jesus  in  the  obscurity  of  Nazareth.  At  the  age 
of  thirty  years  he  awaits  the  order  of  God  for  the  day 
of  his  manifestation.  At  length,  in  the  fifteenth  year 
of  the  empire  of  Tiberius  Caesar,  the  word  of  the  Lord 
is  made  known  to  John,  the  son  of  Zachary,  according 


98  The  Life  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ. 

to  what  the  prophet  had  announced  :  "  Behold,  I  will 
send  my  angel  before  thy  face,  and  he  will  prepare  the 
way  before  thee."  And  elsewhere:  "  A  voice  of  one 
crying  out  in  the  desert,  Prepare  the  way  of  the  Lord  ; 
make  straight  his  paths." 

John  then  commences  to  preach  in  the  desert  of 
Judea  and  the  country  about  the  Jordan.  He  baptizes 
and  preaches  the  baptism  of  penance,  which  was  to  dis- 
pose men  to  obtain  the  remission  of  sins.  He  cries  out, 
"  Do  penance,  for  the  kingdom  of  heaven  is  at  hand." 
He  chastises  severely  the  hypocrisy   of   the  Pharisees  ) 

and  the  impiety  of  the  Sadducees,  mingled  in  the  throng  > 

that  flock  to  him.     "  Ye  brood  of  vipers,  who  has  taught  ; 

you  to  flee  from  the  wrath  of  God  now  pending  over  \ 

ye?  Bring  forth  fruit  worthy  of  penance.  Do  not  say 
among  yourselves  you  have  Abraham  for  your  father, 
because  I  say  to  you  of  these  very  stones  God  can  raise 
up  children  to  Abraham.  Now  the  axe  is  laid  to  the 
root  of  the  tree,  and  every  tree  which  produces  not  good 
fruit  shall  be  cut  down  and  cast  in  the  fire." 

The  exhortations  of  John,  supported  by  his  holy  life 
and  the  remembrance  of  his  miraculous  birth,  made  all 
Judea  shudder  and  quake  for  fear.  From  all  sides  they 
come  in  crowds  to  the  preacher  of  penance.  Those  vast 
multitudes,  deeply  moved,  confess  their  sins,  and  ask 
what  they  must  do  to  receive  baptism.  John  recom- 
mends to  all  the  precept  of  almsgiving.  "  Let  him  who 
has  two  coats  clothe  him  who  has  none,  and  let  him 
who  has  something  to  eat  nourish  him  who  has  no- 
thing.'' To  the  publicans,  collectors  of  taxes,  he  says: 
"  Do  not  require  anything  beyond  what  is  commanded." 
To  the  soldiers:  "Use  no  violence,  accuse  no  person 
falsely,  be  satisfied  with  your  pay." 

The  people  are  very  soon  persuaded  that  John  was 


The  Life  of  our  Lord  Jrsus  Christ. 


99 


the  Christ.  He  says  to  them  :  "  I  baptize  you  with 
water,  so  that  you  may  do  penance;  but  He  who  is 
about  to  come  after  me  is  greater  than  I  am,  and  I  am 
not  worthy  to  stoop  before  him  to  untie  the  latchet  of 
His  shoes.  It  is  he  who  will  baptize  you  with  the 
Holy  Ghost  and  with  fire  :  whose  fan  is  in  his  hands,  and 
he  will  sweep  clean  his  barn  floor:  he  will  gather  the 
wheat  into  his  granary,  and  he  will  cast  the  chaff  into 
the  fire  that  shall  never  be  extinguished." 

Jesus  quits  Nazareth  to  be  baptized,  and  appears  be- 
fore John  on  the  borders  of  the  Jordan,  among  that 
throng  of  sinners  who  do  penance.  John,  living  in  the 
desert  from  his  infancy,  could  have  never  before  that 
moment  seen  the  Son  of  Mary.  However,  he  acknow- 
ledges him  by  an  inspiration  which  a  visible  sign  quickly 
confirms.  He  hesitates  to  baptize,  saying  to  him,  "  It 
is  I  who  should  receive  baptism  of  you,  and  you  come 
to  me."  Jesus  answered  him,  "  Do  it,  nevertheless^  it 
is  proper  that  we  accomplish  thus  all  justice."  Then 
John  baptizes  him.  And  whilst  Jesus  was  going  out 
of  the  water,  praying,  the  heavens  opened  up,  and 
the  Holy  Ghost,  under  the  form  of  a  dove,  descended 
and  rested  upon  him,  and  a  voice  like  a  clap  of  thunder 
burst  forth  from  heaven,  "  You  are  my  well-beloved 
Son." 

Jesus  immediately  retires  into  the  desert.  He  remains 
there  forty  days  and  forty  nights,  living  among  the 
beasts,  and  suffers  himself  to  be  tempted  by  Satan. 
Whether  the  temptation  may  have  lasted  the  forty  days, 
or  whether  the  Son  of  God  may  have  permitted  it  only 
after  this  long  fast,  the  Gospel  relates  three  attacks  on 
Kim  in  the  desert  by  Satan. 

When,  therefore,  Jesus  began  to  feel  the  pangs  of 
hunger,  Satan  says  to  him,  "  If  you  are  the  Son  of  God, 


The  Life  of  our  Lord  jfesus  Christ. 


command  that  these  stones  be  changed  into  bread." 
Jesus  answered  him,  "  It  is  written,  Man  lives  not  by 
bread  alone,  but  by  every  word  proceeding  out  of  the 
mouth  of  God."  Foiled  by  this  expression  of  un- 
bounded confidence  which  Providence  expects  of  man, 
the  enemy  wishes  in  his  turn  to  avail  himself  of  the  arm 
of  the  Scriptures  and  of  the  confidence  in  God.  He  trans- 
ports Jesus  to  the  pinnacle  of  the  temple,  and  says  to 
him  :  "  If  you  are  the  Son  of  God,  cast  yourself  down  ;  for 
it  is  written  he  has  chargedthis  angels  to  take  care  of  you, 
and  they  will  bear  you  in  their  arms,  lest  you  hurt  your 
foot  against  a  stone."  Jesus  replied,  "  It  is  also  written, 
You  shall  not  tempt  the  Lord  thy  God."  Vanquished 
a  second  time,  Satan  tries  the  last  assault.     He  carries  \ 

him  up  to  the  top  of  a  high  mountain,  and  displays  be-  ) 

fore  him  all  the  kingdoms  of  the  world  and  their  glory.  ( 

"  I  will  give  you  all  these,"  said  he  to  him — "  the  entire 
power  and  glory  of  these  empires  ;  because  these  things 
are  mine,  and  I  can  give  them  to  whom  I  wish.  Adore 
me,  and   they  will   be   yours."      Jesus  answered'  him,  > 

"  Begone,  Satan;  for  it  is  written,  You  shall  adore  the 
Lord  your  God,  and  serve  him  alone."     Satan,  having  i 

vainly  essayed  the  temptations,  withdrew,  and  the 
angels  surrounded  Jesus,  and  adored  him  and  served 
him. 

John  continues  his  ministry,  and  his  reputation  ex- 
cites the  hatred  of  the  Scribes  and  Pharisees.  They  j 
send  to  him  trustworthy  persons  to  learn  of  him  who 
he  was,  hoping  without  doubt  to  receive  such  replies 
as  might  afford  a  pretext  for  his  persecution.  John 
openly  declared  that  he  was  not  the  Christ.  They 
asked  him  if  he  was  Elias  or  some  other  prophet. 
He  answered  no.  "  Who,  then,  are  you  ?  "  say  they  to 
him.     "  What  do  you  say  of  yourself?  "     He  replies  as 


"1 


The  Life  of  our  Lord  yesus  Christ.  iot 

)  he   previously  had   done,   "  I   am   the   voice   of  which 

>  Isaias  speaks — the  voice  of  one  who  cries  out  in  the 

|  desert,  Make  straight  the  way  for  the  Lord."     They 

insist:  "If  you  are  not  the  Christ,  nor  Elias,  nor  a 
prophet,  why,  then,  do  you  baptize  with  water  ?  "  John 
replies  again:  "  I  baptize  with  water;  but  there  is  One 
in  the  midst  of  you  whom  you  know  not — he  who 
shall  come  after  me,  and  who  is  before  me  ;  and  I  am 
not  worthy  to  untie  his  shoe-strings." 

The  deputies  of  the  Jews  interrogated  him  no  more» 
and  John  added  nothing;  but  the  following  day,  seeing 
Jesus  passing,  he  said  :  "  Behold  the  Lamb  of  God  ;  be- 
hold him  who  takes  away  the  sins  of  the  world.  .  .  . 
This  is  he  of  whom  I  have  said,  There  comes  after  me 
One  who  is  before  me.  For  he  is  more  ancient  than  I  am. 
I  know  him  not,  but  I  am  come  to  baptize  in  water, 
that  the  people  of  Israel  may  know  him."  He  adds: 
"  I  have  seen  the  Spirit  descend  from  heaven  in  the 
shape  of  a  dove,  and  light  on  him.  I  did  not  know 
him  ;  but  he  who  has  commissioned  me  to  baptize  with 
water  has  said  to  me,  He  upon  whom  you  will  see  the 
Holy  Spirit  descend  and  rest,  he  it  is  who  baptizes  in 

the  Holy  Ghost.     And  I  have  seen  ;  and  I  render  testi- 

) 


mony  that  he  is  the  Son  of  God." 

The  day  after,  John,  being  with  two  of  his  disciples, 
saw  Jesus  again  passing,  and  says:  "  Behold  the  Lamb 
of  God."  Forthwith  the  two  disciples  of  John  follow 
Jesus,  who  was  going  away.  Jesus  turns  about,  and 
asks  them,  "Whom  do  you  seek?"  "Master,"  say 
they  to  him,  "  where  do  you  live  ?  "  And  he  answered 
them,  "Come  and  see."  They  came  and  remained. 
One  was  John,  the  son  of  Zebedee;  the  other,  Andrew, 
brother  of  Simon.  Andrew  said  to  his  brother,  "  We 
have  seen  the  Messias."     He  then  led  Simon  to  Jesus, 


102 


The  Life  of  our  Lord  Jestis  Christ. 


and  Jesus,  having  cast  eyes  upon  him,  says  to  him  : 
"  Thou  art  Simon,  son  of  Jona  ;  thou  wilt  be  called 
Cephas — that  is  to  say,  Peter." 

Such  is  the  prologue  of  the  Gospel  reduced  to  the 
nakedness  of  the  fact.  Nothing  can  be  conceived  so 
simple  and  so  magnificent  ;  and  God,  if  one  might  dare 
so  speak,  could  not  express  less  to  man,  and  give  at  the 
same  time  more  to  God. 

God,  according  to  a  remark  of  one  of  the  fathers, 
can  do  humble  things  without  prejudice  to  his  nature, 
Avhilst  man  renders  himself  criminal  in  attributing  to 
himself  the  supernatural  and  divine.  Let  a  king  act 
as  a  soldier  for  the  salvation  of  all — it  is  the  work  of 
a  king;  the  little  things  which  save- the  world  are  the 
works  of  God. 

There  was  once  a  god-king — a  god  of  the  world,  ac- 
cording to  the  spirit  of  the  world,  in  the  world.  He 
was  enthroned  at  Rome  ;  he  was  called  Augustus.  He 
lets  Herod  reign,  whom  he  well  knows;  he  deposes 
Tiberius,  on  whom  he  had  passed  sentence.  The  his- 
tory of  those  times  are  full  of  those  horrible  names. 
Messalinas,  Herodias,  Drusillas,  Agrippinas,  Poppseas, 
surround  and  bow  before  those  gods  of  the  earth. 
They  have  for  ministers  Narcissuses  the  Sejanuses. 

The  court  of  the  God  made  man  is  composed  of  the 
rarest  personages.  A  few,  such  as  Zachary  and  Eliza- 
beth, Simeon  and  Anna,  seem  to  have  been  preserved 
from  the  general  corruption  to  proclaim  his  entry  into 
life.  He  comes  to  increase  their  number,  or  rather  to 
create  anew  their  exhausted  race.  This  is  his  work — the 
only  work  worthy  of  him.  Before  appearing  he  con- 
cealed himself  in  the  womb  of  Mary  ;  he  sanctifies  John 
in  his  mother's  womb;  immortal  words  greet  him, 
sublime  dialogues  between  the  saints  of  the  Old  and  the 


) 

) 

) 
) 

I  The  Life  of  out  Lord  yes  us  Christ.  103 

New  Law,  who  are  all  his  saints  ;  prophecies  of  his  reign, 
which  accomplish  the  prophecies  of  times  past.  The 
chain  of  love  once  more  links  together  heaven  and 
earth  ;  Bethlehem  throws  open  again  the  gates  of  Eden  ; 
heavenly  songs  announce  the  reconciliation;  miracles 
abound;  nature,  divinely  energetic,  produces  unheard- 
of  wonders;  all  is  resurrection  and  mercy;  figures  be- 
come realities  ;  all  these  immortal  realities  are  so  many 
types  of  humanity  rejuvenated,  so  many  torches  lit  up 
to  guide  it  to  the  kingdom  of  God. 

Following  the  fathers,  let  us  read  the  Gospel  differently 
from  those  who  interrogate  it,  as  the  Jews  interrogated 
the  Precursor  and  interrogated  Jesus,  only  to  have 
some  pretext  to  condemn  them  to  death.  Jesus,  whom 
they  have  put  to  death,  is  not  dead,  and  the  Gospel 
which  they  blaspheme  will  annihilate  them.  Let  them 
accomplish  this  prodigy  of  finding  death  in  the  source  \ 


of  life.     But  let  us  grasp  what  is  offered  us.    Let  us 
drink  in  life. 


MHS 

iic^l 

fis! 

BlEEa^Ws 

^53&i 

>y^X'jgjl 

SI 

-xSs 

OÉ& 

j|§§ 

CHAPTER   II. 

Zachary  —  Elizabeth  —  Mary  —  John  — JosEni — 
The  Crib— The  Shepherds — Simeon— Anna— 
The  Magi — Herod. 


ST.  LUKE  begins  by  these  words,  which  may  seem 
indifferent  :  "  In  the  days  of  Herod,  King  of 
Judea."  These  words  undeniably  prove  that  the  pre- 
diction of  Jacob  is  accomplished.  Juda  has  "lost  its 
temporal  and  warlike  royalty.  The  days  of  the  Prince 
of  Peace  are  near  at  hand.  Very  soon  this  Desired  of 
Nations,  the  hope  of  the  last  divine  instinct  that  hu- 
manity retains,  shall  appear  to  the  world.  The  angels 
are  deputed  as  ambassadors  to  men.  Zachary,  in  some 
respects  distrustful  and  incredulous,  although  just,  re- 
presents his  nation,  forsaken  and  barren.  His  justice  is 
rewarded  far  beyond  his  expectations  ;  his  incredulity 
is  punished  by  loss  of  speech.  Israel  has  no  more 
prophets,  and  will  have  no  longer  a  priesthood  until 
the  day  wherein,  born  again  of  faith,  she  shall  become 
worthy  of  a  true  priesthood,  and  then  she  will  recover 
her  voice  to  praise  God. 

The  angel  intimates  to  Zachary  the  name  of  the 
child,  his  son  :  "  You  shall  name  him  John  " — that  is, 
he  in  whom  is  grace.  "He  will  walk  in  the  spirit  and 
virtue  of  Elias,    ...    so  as  to  prepare  a  perfect  people 


Virgin.    Such  was  the  commencement  of  the  reparation 


The  Life  of  our  Lord  yitsus   Christ.  105 

for  the  Lord."  For  the  Mosaic  law  has  produced  no- 
thing like  his  perfection,  and  the  Jewish  nation  is  but 
the  rough  draught  of  the  great  Christian  people. 

Zachary  is  the  son  of  Abia,  Elizabeth  the  daughter 
of  Aaron  —  flowers  of  the  sacerdotal  race.  It  was 
right  and  proper  that  St.  John  should  be  born  of  that 
race,  in  order  to  proclaim  more  impressively  the  new 
priesthood.  The  two  principal  branches  of  Israel,  in 
John  the  sacerdotal  and  in  Jesus  the  royal,  are  united 
in  the  work  of  the  fulfilment. 

Elizabeth  was  barren  ;  Sarah,  Rebecca,  Rachel,  wives 
of  the  patriarchs,  were  also  barren  ;  not  through  pun- 
ishment—for .they  walked  in  justice— but  that  their 
fruitfulness  might  display  the  power  of  God.  Eliza- 
beth was  barren  in  order  to  show  that  God  is  master 
of  all.    *  A    virgin   may  bring  forth,   since  the  barren 

\  one  has  conceived. 

Freed  from  the  opprobrium  of  hef  long  sterility, 
Elizabeth  gives  thanks.  Her  legitimate  joy  seems  to 
enhance  the  hallowed  character  of  Mary,  the  prophetess 
of  the  beauty  of  virginity,  who  had  resolved  to  sacrifice 

}  the  greatest  honor  that  a  woman  could  obtain  in  Israel 

>  out  of  love  for  virginal  purity. 

The  Angel  Gabriel  ("  power  of  God  ")  is  sent  to  the 


^  0         — ....  ..„.,  „„w  ^LnuLiiuiiiuiiui  me  reparation 


—an  angel  sent  down  to  the  Virgin  through  the  goodness 
ot  God  ;  because  the  commencement  of  perdition  be- 
gan when  the  serpent  approached  the  woman  through 
the  malice  of  the  demon.  Since  the  divine  Restorer 
of  mankind  should  be  born  in  the  flesh,  says  St.  Augus- 
tine, he  should  be  born  only  of  a  virgin,  in  order  to°  be 
unequalled  in  his  birth.  The  Head  should  be  born  of 
a  virgin  according  to  the  flesh,  whose  members  are 
born  of  the  Church— a  virgin  according  to  the  spirit. 


too 


The  Life  of  our  Lord  jfesus  Christ. 


Mary  is  at  the  same  time  both  a  virgin  and  a  wife — a 
virgin  to  be  full  of  grace  ;  a  wife  to  avoid  injurious  sus- 
picions. The  Lord  did  not  wish  that  we  should  doubt 
the  honor  of  his  Mother.  He  did  not  wish  that  the 
Jews  should  seem  to  simply  persecute  the  fruit  of 
shame.  The  law  condemned  illegitimate  births  ;  if 
he  had  appeared  to  carry  the  least  stain  of  it,  how 
could  he  be  able  to  say,  "  I  am  not  come  to  destroy 
the  law,  but  to  fulfil  it  "  ?  Finally,  this  condition  of 
wifehood  was  calculated  to  inspire  trust  in  the  words 
of  Mary.  A  mother  without  being  married,  she  might 
be  supposed  to  wish  to  conceal  her  fault  ;  as  a  wife,  she 
had  no  motive  for  lying,  since  maternity  is  the  privilege 
of  marriage. 

The  angel  says  to  her  that  He  who  is  born  of  her 
shall  be  called  the  Son  of  the  Most  High,  and  that  the 
Lord  will  give  him  the  throne  of  David,  his  father. 
When  the  Holy  Ghost  reinspired  these  words,  and 
dictated  them  to  the  Evangelist  to  be  spread  abroad 
in  the  world,  Jesus  Christ  had  no  throne  but  the 
cross.  The  angel  says  again  :  "  He  will  reign  eternally 
in  the  house  of  Jacob,  and  his  reign  will  have  no  end." 
Truly,  Jesus  Christ  reigns  in  the  house  of  Jacob.  His 
kingdom  on  earth,  the  visible  Church,  which  shall  last 
as  long  as  the  world,  was  formed  at  first  of  those 
children  of  Jacob  who  received  his  law.  The  others, 
having  rejected  Christ,  have  thereby  cut  themselves 
off.  They  are  no  more  the  true  Israel.  The  Gentiles, 
called  in  their  place,  form  but  one  same  people  with 
their  faithful  posterity.  Jacob  is  the  common  stock 
of  the  natural  and  engrafted  branches.  Thus  St.  Paul 
represents  him.  The  people  of  God  is  a  great  tree, 
whose  stem,  always  subsisting,  loses  some  branches 
and  acquires  new  ones. 


The  Life  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ.  l0-j 

Isaias,    announcing    the    incarnation    of   the    Word, 
exclaimed    with   admiration,  "  Who    will    recount   his 
generation  ?  "     Enlightening  Mary,  who  objects  to  him 
her  design   of  remaining  a  virgin,  the   angel   says   to 
her:  "The  Holy  Ghost  will  come  upon  you,  and  the 
power  of  the   Most   High  shall  overshadow  you  ;  and 
for  this  reason  :  the  Holy  One  who  shall  be  born  of  you 
shall  be  called  the  Son  of  God."     According    to    the 
commentary   of  Bossuet,  the    Most   Pure  only  unites 
himself  to  purity  itself.      He  conceives  his  only  Son 
without  sharing  his  conception  with  another  ;   he  does 
not  wish,  when  he  causes  him  to  be  born  in  time,  to 
share  him  with  any  but  the  Virgin.    -The  Heavenly 
Father  extends  in  Mary  his  eternal  generation.     Of  the 
blood   of  the  Virgin  he  will  compose  a  body  so  pure 
that   the  Holy  Ghost  only  can  form  it.     At  the  same 
time    this   divine    Spirit    will   breathe  into    it    a    soul 
which,  having  but  himself  for  its  author,  without  the 
concurrence   of  any   other  cause,  must  be  holy— holy 
by  his  nature,  not  a  holiness  derived  and  accidental, 
but  substantive  and  essential— sanctum;  that  which  only 
can  be  properly  applied  to  God,  who  alone  is  all  holy 
by  his  nature.     .     .     .     Behold,   then,  a  new   dignity 
created    on  earth— the  dignity  of  the  Mother  of  God. 
And   such   is  the   reward  of  virginity;  she  only  could 
become  a  Mother  of  God. 

With  Mary,  a  new  beauty  appears  in  the  world. 
This  loveliness  is  the  virgin,  the  mother,  the  saint,  the 
martyr  ;  she  is  the  beloved  one  ;  she  is  yet  something 
greater— she  is  the  perfection  of  humility.  She 
possessed  all  virtues,  and  united  them  in  perfect  har- 
mony in  such  a  degree  that  the  beauty  of  her  counte- 
nance was  but  the  expression  of  her  sanctity  rendered 
visible  to  all  who  beheld  her.     The  Spirit  of  God  pro- 


)  io8  The  Life  of  our  Lord  Resits  Christ.  \ 

)  **  { 

)  .  ( 

phesied  of  her  throughout  the  entire  Scriptures.     She 

is  the  gate,  always  closed,  that  Ezechiel  saw,  and  which 

permits  none  to  pass  through  but  the  Lord  ;  she  is  the 

temple  of   Solomon    embellished    outwardly  with  the 

white  marble  of  purity,  inwardly  with  the  purest  gold 

of  charity.     She  is  the  rod  of  Aaron,  which,  deposited 

in  the  tabernacle,  blooms  forth  miraculously  into  fruit 

)  and  flowers.     She  is  the  fleece  of  Gedeon,  only  watered 

j  with  the  heavenly  dews,  whilst    the  earth  all  around 


tables  of  the  law,  but  the  Author  of  the  law.     She  it  is 
who  was  announced  to  the  serpent  and  who  will  crush 
his  head.     She  is  the  new  Eve,  all  pure  and  invincible, 
preserved  from  sin   and  victorious  over  sin.     She  has 
the  same  part  in  our  salvation  that  Eve  has  had  in  our 
destruction.     Through  her  the  new  Adam,  Jesus  Chnst, 
is  about  to  receive  a  new  generation,  like   that  of  the 
first,  which  was  but  its  figure.     With  the  divine  Word 
enclosed  in  her  womb,  she  will  be  the  holiest  temple 
the  earth  can  ever  behold.     But  the  temple  is  the  place 
of  sacrifice  !     The   angel   says  to  Mary  that  she   "  has 
found   grace  "  ;  she  has  found  it  only  to  offer  it  to  the 
world.    That  which  Eve  had  lost  Mary  found  again  ;  the 
sons  of  Eve  ask  it  back.  The  cross  will  restore  it  to  them. 
The  lovely  scene  of  the  visitation,  where  Elizabeth, 
John  Baptist,  and  Mary  prophesy  under  the  influence 
of  the  hidden  God,  contains,  says  Bossuet,  a  profound 
evelation  of  the  economy  of  grace  and  the  manner  in 
.vhich  he  acts  differently  on  souls.     We  see  in  Elizabeth 
the  humble  astonishment  of  a  soul  that  he  approaches 
in  John  Baptist,  the  burning  ecstasy  of  a  soul  that  he 
attracts;  in  Mary,  the  ineffable  peace  of  a  soul  that  pos- 
sesses him. 


remains  dry.     She  is  the  vessel  of  gold  that  keeps  the 
)  manna  ;  the  ark  of  the  covenant  which  contains,  not  the 


The  Life  of  our  Lord  J"esus  Christ.  109 

Under  the  influence  of  grace,  John  is  already  the  pre- 
cursor. Those  palpitations  admonish  his  mother  of  the 
fact.  "  The  infant  that  I  carry  in  my  womb  has  leaped 
with  joy."  With  joy — that  is,  with  perfect  knowledge  of 
God's  bodily  presence.  And  such  is  the  abundance  of  the 
benediction  and  the  splendor  of  the  light  bestowed  that 
Elizabeth  repeats  to  Mary  the  word  of  the  angel,  "  You 
are  blessed  among  women."  She  goes  further:  she 
calls  her  the  Mother  of  God.  And  forthwith  she  ex- 
alts faith  in  the  same  terms  which  Jesus  will  employ  : 
''  Blessed  art  thou,  who  hast  believed."  Jesus  afterwards  . 
says-  the  same  to  Peter,  and,  after  his  resurrection,  to 
Thomas.  The  Gospel  has  but  one  language — the  same 
on  the  vigil  of  Bethlehem  as  on  the  morrow  of  Calvary. 

Elizabeth  again  says  to  Mary:  "The  fruit  of  thy 
womb  is  blessed."  The  patriarch  had  prophesied  : 
"  The  odor  of  my  son  is  like  to  that  of  a  sweet-smelling 
earth."  Elizabeth  prophesies  the  sweet  fruit  of  the 
cross,  destined  to  nourish  souls  and  destroy  in  them  the 
effects  of  the  fatal  fruit  plucked  through  the  disobe- 
dience of  the  first  Eve.  ( 


In  the  entire  New  Testament  we  find  but  seven  words 
of  Mary,  all  very  brief  and  ordered  by  circumstances. 
She  is  mute  when  Joseph  is  inclined  to  suspect  her — 
mute  at  Calvary.  Once  only  she  departs  from  this  re- 
serve, and  she  chants  the  glorious  JMaguificat,  which  St. 
Ambrose  calls  the  ecstasy  of  her  humility.  Bossuet 
does  not  dare  comment  on  it.  Those  who  have  dared 
to  do  so  have  found  the  matter  so  vast  that  their  labor 
cannot  be  abridged  here.  Let  us  reflect  only  on  this 
prophetic  word  :  "  From  henceforth  all  generations  shall 
call  me  blessed."  Nineteen  centuries  bowed  down  their 
heads  in  veneration,  and  future  ages  shall  reverently 
incline  their  heads,  and  will  say,  Amen. 


no  The  Life  of  our  Lord  yesus  Christ. 

The  Jews,  in  their  turn,  will  reverently  bow  down 
their  heads  in  veneration  of  Mary.  They  have  been, 
from  the  beginning  to  the  present,  the  only  ones  in  the 
world  who  could  have  hated  Mary,  the  Mother  of  Jesus. 
It  is  one  of  the  maledictions  which  weighs  upon  them, 
and  one  of  the  heaviest  and  bloodiest.  Mahomet  makes 
God  to  say  :  "  Because  the  Jews  have  not  believed  in 
Jesus,  and  because  they  have  uttered  great  blasphemies 
against   Mary,   we  have  cursed  them."     The   Mussul- 


) 

)  man's  sceptre  still  executes  the  sentence. 

The  style  of  the  Holy  Ghost  in  the  canticle  of  Zach- 


arias  is  not  less  manifest.     The  holy  priest  praises  God,  ( 

who  has  visited  his  people  ;  points  out  the  accomplish- 
ment of  the  ancient  law,  and  prophesies  the  graces  of 
the  future  law.  Among  the  objects  of  the  Saviour's 
mercy  he  names  Abraham  and  David,  and  the  fathers 
of  Israel  who  are  dead  ;  for  Jesus  Christ  comes  to  fulfil 
the  promises  which  they  received — his  benediction,  going 
back  to  ages  passed  away,  at  the  same  time  that  it  is 
about  to  extend  itself  to  yet  unborn  ages,  brings  deli- 
verance to  those  who  wait  in  Limbo,  as  it  will  cause  an  ? 
abundance  of  light  to  shine  on  those  who  are  seated  in 
the  shadow  of  death.  Zachary  gives  Jesus  the  name  of 
"  Orient,"  by  which  name  one  of  the  last  prophets  had 
designated  him  :  "  His  name  is  the  Orient,  the  Morning 
Sun."  Thus  at  the  cradle  of  the  Precursor  this  man  of 
the  temple  attests  that  God  has  sent  down  Him  who 
was  ordained  to  come.  With  the  same  inspired  vision 
he  sees  the  part  his  Son  will  have  in  the  great  work  of 
salvation.  No  human  voice  could  address  anything 
more  solemn  than  those  words  of  Zachary  addressed  to 
)  his  son,  aged  eight  days  :  "  And  you,  helpless  babe,  ( 
')  will  be  called  the  prophet  of  the  Most  High,;  for  you 
will  go  before  the  face  of  the  Lord,  preparing  the  ways 
>                                                                                                                                ( 


J_ 


/ — 


L 


The  Life  of  oar  Lord  Jïsus  Christ.  1 1 1 

for  him,  so  as  to  give  to  his  people  the  knowledge  of 
salvation  for  the  remission  of  their  sins."  ( 

The  witnesses  of  John's  birth  say  among  themselves  : 
"  What  do  you  think  will  this  child  be?  "     Thirty  years  \ 

later  Jesus  Christ  will  answer  :  "  There   is   none  born 
of  women  greater  than  John." 

Christian  humanity,  the  sure  appreciator  of  mor.il 
worth,  honors  the  heroic  loveliness  of  character  by 
which  St.  John  the  Baptist  is  not  less  the  imitator  than 
the  precursor  of  Jesus.  His  conception  and  his  nativ- 
ity, his  penitential  life  in  the  desert,  his  preaching  and 
baptism,  his  persecution,  his  imprisonment,  his  death, 
were  ordered  to  prepare  for  Jesus  Christ.  All,  in  him, 
is  conformable  to  that  august  resemblance.  He  perfect- 
ed and  accomplished  it  by  his  fidelity,  and  thus  he  be- 
came the  admirable  type  of  all  the  saints.  The  salu- 
tary boldness  of  his  piety  and  virtue  oblige  the  proud, 
even,  to  come  and  listen  to  the  hard  sayings  which  con- 
demn them  ;  he  preaches  penance  to  the  purple,  bowed 
down  before  his  ragged  garments.  His  humility 
equals  his  courage.  More  than  all  other  mortals,  says 
Bossuet,  he  has  sacrificed  his  own  glory  to  the  Son  of 
God.  When  all  the  world  greets  him  as  master,  he 
proclaims  that  he  is  but  the  servant.  Glory  does  not 
seduce  him,  and  death  does  not  make  him  tremble. 
He  will  say  to  Herod,  "Non  licet,"  and  to  his  dis- 
ciples, in  pointing  out  Jesus,  yet  unknown,  "  Behold 
the  Lamb  of  God."  Those  who  follow  him  will  come 
to  learn  of  him  with  a  jealous  feeling  that  the  ignorant 
and  the  learned  will  flock  to  this  new  master.  He  will 
reply  to  them  that  this  Great  Being  must  grow  in  your 
thoughts,  and  self  disappear  from  them.  Such  is,  after 
the  almost  divine  Mary,  the  best  work  of  the  grace  of 
Jesus.     John  will  be  the   first  voice   of  the  Word  ;  he 


Ii2  The  Life  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ. 

terminates  the  line   of  the  patriarchs  and  commences 
that  of  the  apostles  ;   the   first  who  will  announce  the 

\  kingdom  of  heaven.     He  will  behold  first   the  Blessed  \ 

Trinity  manifesting  itself  over  the  waters  of  Jordan 
he  will  point  out  first  Him  whom  the  prophets  have  an 
nounced;  he  first   will  be    martyr,  prophet,  patriarch, 

\  hermit,  witness  of  Jesus  Christ. 

When  Mary  returns  to  Nazareth,  another  personage 
manifests  himself.  It  is  Joseph — a  creation  not  less 
marvellous  of  the  grace  of  Jesus.  The  Gospel  has  but 
one  word  whereby  to  praise  him  :  "He  was  just."  The 
charge  with  which  he  was  honored  and  the  manner  in 
which  he  fulfilled  it  demonstrate  the  abundance  of  this 
righteousness.  He  receives  of  God,  for  the  sake  of 
Mary  and  Jesus,  the  affection,  watchfulness,  and  au- 
thority of  husband  and  father.  He  is  formed  after  the 
model  of  Mary  ;  like  her,  son  of  David  ;  virgin,  like 
her;  humble,  like  her;  obedient,  full  of  prudence  and 
courage.       He  resembles  the  patriarch  Joseph,  but  sur- 

{  passes  him  as  much  by  the  perfection   of  his  merits  as 

by  the  character  of  his  mission  :    not  only  chaste,  but 

virgin  ;  not  only  instructed,  but   inspired    and  directed 

of  God.      Joseph,  son  of  Jacob,  preserves    the   grain 

necessary  for  himself  and  for  the  people  ;  Joseph,  spouse 

of  Mary,  receives  the  Bread  of  life  and  watches  over  it, 

protects  it  for  her  and  for  the  entire  human  race.     It  is 

said  to  him,  "  Take  the  Child,"  as  if  God  had  addressed 

to  him  the  word  that  the   prophet    addressed   to   God 

himself:     "  To  thyself  alone  belongs  the  care   of  the 

poor."     Joseph  is  the  type  of  the  apostles,  who  carry 

Jesus   Christ   into   all    the    universe.      Thus   St.  John 

Damascene,  St.  Bernard,  St.   Hilary  of   Poitiers,  and 

)         '    other  fathers  and  doctors,  express  themselves.    A  great  ( 

)  .         .  \ 

servant  of  God,  who  lived  in  our  day,  penetrates  more 


The  Life  of  our  Lord  ycsus   Christ.  1 1 3 

deeply  into  this  beautiful  mystery.  When  Joseph, 
after  Mary,  draws  near  to  adore  Jesus  in  the  crib,  it  is, 
says  Faber,  the  shadow  of  the  Eternal  Father  that  rests 
over  the  infant,  and  the  temporal  birth  of  the  Son  of 
God  is  completed  by  this  figure  of  his  nativity,  without 
beginning  and  without  end.  Joseph  was,  before  the 
face  of  Jesus,  visibly  in  the  place  of  the  Eternal  Father. 
The  human  soul  of  Jesus  regarded  him  not  only  with 
the  most  tender  love,  but  with  unspeakable  submission. 
Hence  veneration  is  our  dominant  feeling  towards  the 
gentle  Joseph,  because  of  that  shade  of  identity  be- 
tween him  and  the  Father.  We  cannot  describe  his 
sanctity,  because  we  lack  the  term  of  comparison. 
)  That  sanctity,  more  elevated  than  that  of  all  the  other 

saints  of  God,  is  still  of  a  different  kind.  Joseph  has 
been  an  apparition  in  the  world — the  apparition  of  the 
Eternal  and  Unbegotten  Father.  He  is  gentle  and  cle- 
ment;  he  is  poor  and  obscure  ;  he  is  passive  and  docile  ; 
and  he  is,  at  the  same  time,  an  impregnable  fortress 
where  the  honor  of  Mary  and  the  life  of  Jesus  were 
sheltered  ;  hidden  like  God,  full  of  divine  tranquillity, 
just  with  a  justice  tempered  by  mercy,  like  that  of  God. 
He  communicates  with  God  during  his  sleep,  as  if  his 
sleep  was  but  the  mystical  repose  of  contemplation. 
First,  after  Mar}-,  he  adores  Jesus,  and  the  Infant  sane-  \ 

tifies  him  anew — elevates  him  to  a  more  eminent  sphere 
of  holiness,  in  order  that  he  may  be  qualified  to  be  the 
highest  official  of  God. 

Who  can  picture  that  moment  at  the  crib  when  the 
infant  Jesus  contemplates  for  the  first  time  with  his 
human  eyes  the  countenance  of  Mary  ?  Who  can  ex- 
press the  joy  and  respect  of  those  looks  turned  toward 
St.  Joseph — the  man  chosen  to  be  called  his  father,  one 
who  is  worthy  of  such  glory,  one  who  is  worthy  to  live 


The  Life  of  our  Lord  yesus  Christ. 

more  than  any  other  in  his  affections,  and  who,  we  may  \ 

well  suppose,  loves  him  with  the  deepest  love?  Jesus, 
Mary,   Joseph — three   kingdoms  of  which    God  is   the  / 

only   King;   three   creations,   yet   one  only,  through   a  ( 

wonderful  union  of  love  ;  a  terrestrial  trinity  ! 

In  this  miserable  dwelling,  full  of  incomparable 
splendors,  Jesus,  the  newly  born,  just  entering  into  a 
world  that  he  is  to  instruct,  gives  one  of  the  lessons  on  ( 

which  he  will  insist  the  most.  This  is  the  "  Egenus  et 
pauper"  of  the  Psalmist;  the  King  who  will  after 
a  while  carry  on  his  shoulders  the  cross  as  a  mark  of 
royalty;   the    Man  who  has  known   trials  and  sorrows 

from  his  youth.     He  is  also  that  little  Babe  of  whom 

( 

Isaias  speaks,  who  knows  how  to  reject  evil  and  choose 
irood.  The  <jood  he  chose  is  to  be  born  in  that  stable — 
first  reprobation  and  condemnation  of  the  luxury  and 
effeminacy  which  make  us  slaves  ;  first  mark  of  the 
power  which  undertakes  to  conquer  us  by  disdaining 
and  rejecting  those  things  that  we  covet  most.  Behold 
the  incomparable  miracle  of  the  Man-God  :  he  is  going 
to  subjugate  man  by  restoring  to  him.  the  strength  that 
sin  deprived  him  of,  which  man  regretted  having  lost, 
yet  does  not  care  to  recover — such  is  man's  perversity 
that  he  will  not  be  reinstated.  Thus  Jesus  manifests 
himself  in  despised  weakness,  in  hated  poverty  ;  it  is 
thus  we  will  love  him,  and  that,  turned  away  from  the 
covetousness  and  unlawful  desires  of  the  earth,  we  may 
be  drawn  to  the  desire  of  invisible  things. 

However,  the  Divinity  is  not  concealed  in  such  a 
manner  that  we  cannot  see  it.  That  spot  is  not  indif- 
ferent, that  night  has  not  been  selected  by  chance. 
Before  the  mystery  of  his  name  had  been  revealed, 
Bethlehem — "  The  House  of  Bread  " — was  not  without 
notoriety.     There  Jacob,  returning  from  Mesopotamia, 


The  Life  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  115 

stopped  to  bury  his  beloved  Rachel.  There  too  David 
built  his  symbolical  tower,  which  was  so  dear  to  him, 
and  which  was  stamped  on  his  coins.  The  King  of 
Israel  is  born  in  the  dominion  of  his  ancestors.  £ 
tomb — a  pile  of  ruins — a  crib!  But  he  comes  to  re-es- 
tablish what  was  lost,  to  resuscitate  what  was  dead, 
and  he  brought  worth  and  life  divine  into  a  world 
where  those  among  men  who  pride  themselves  most 
on  their  wisdom  envied  the  lot  of  the  brute  creation. 

He  is  born  in  the  middle  of  the  "  Festival  of  Lights," 
the  anniversary  of  the  second  dedication  of  the 
Temple,  which  they  celebrated  for  eight  days,  in 
memory  of  a  miracle  which  had  marked  that  solemnity. 
The  Festival  of  Lights  was  also  a  feast  of  nature. 
Jesus  Christ,  our  Saviour,  the  light  of  the  world,  is 
born  at  the  moment  in  which  the  night  of  idolatry  is 
profoundly  dark,  and  the  day  of  his  nativity  (25th  of 
December)  is  found  to  be  that  wherein  the  material 
sun,  overshadowed  and  almost  extinguished  in  its 
struggle  with  darkness,  is  reanimated  and  prepared  for 
conquest.  On  that  day,  says  St.  Gregory  of  Nyssa, 
"  the  darkness  begins  to  diminish,  and  the  light  begins 
to  increase,  and  the  night  is  ebbing  beyond  its  fron- 
tiers. This  does  not  happen  fortuitously  at  the  mo- 
ment wherein  He  who  is  the  life  of  humanity  casts  an 
effulgence  of  divine  light  over  the  world.  Nature, 
under  this  symbol,  reveals  a  secret  to  those  who  are 
capable  of  understanding  it.  Short-sighted  science  ex- 
pected to  have  profoundly  shaken  the  foundations  of 
the  Christian  religion  by  discovering  among  the  an- 
cients the  existence  of  a  festival  of  the  sun  at  the 
winter  solstice.  In  their  eyes,  religion  can  no  longer 
pass  for  divine  when  the  usages  of  its  worship  offer 
analogies   with    the    phenomena    of   a    world    created 


n6 


The  Life  of  our  Lord  J^esus   Christ. 


nevertheless  for  Christ  and  for  his  Church.  But  we  find 
the  confirmation  pf  our  faith  even  where  our  adversa- 
ries think  they  perceive  its  ruin."  * 

At  the  moment  of  his  birth  the  King  claims  his  peo- 
ple. An  angel  of  heaven  invites  the  shepherds  to  go 
to  the  manger.  They  are  the  first  called,  because  the 
Lord  came  to  "  console  the  poor  in  their  sufferings 
and  the  wretched  in  their  woes,"  and  because  they  are 
simple  people.  Plato  ridicules  the  sages  for  having 
made  themselves  understood  by  the  common  people  ; 
but  the  Lord  loves  converse  with,  and  instruction  of, 
the  simple-minded. 

The  angel  said  to  them  :  "  There  is  born  to  you  this 
day  a  Saviour" — Vobis,  to  you  and  for  you!  "You 
will  find  him,  the  Infant,  in  a  manger."  They  come  ; 
they  contemplate  his  glorious  lowliness.  Certainly, 
neither  himself  nor  his  own  have  undertaken  to  deceive 
the  world.  But  those  shepherds,  those  simple-minded 
people,  have  read  nothing  that  blinds  them  to  the 
truth.  They  adore,  and  they  return  glorifying  God. 
Peace  be  to  men  of  good-will  ! 

Simeon  expects  the  Salvation  of  Israel.  He  was 
found  worthy,  and  he  was  aware  of  it,  not  to  die  until 
he  should  salute  the  Saviour.  The  learned  believed 
the  time  had  come  ;  the  saints  doubted  it  not.  Simeon 
is  inspired  to  go  to  the  Temple.  He  hastens,  and 
sees  Him  whom  he  awaits.  He  sees  him  among 
the  poor.  What  does  it  concern  him?  His  know- 
ledge is  according  to  God  ;  he  has  the  simplicity 
of  the  shepherds.  He  takes  the  infant  Babe  in 
his  arms.  He  is  already  in  that  familiarity  that  God 
wishes  to  establish  between   himself  and   the  just  :  he 


*  Guéranger,  Année  liturgique. 


) 

"  Glory  to  God,  peace  to  men  of  good-will." 


Now  behold  the  Magi  !  According  to  tradition, 
they  were  priests  and  kings,  or  princes  of  their  people, 
descendants  of  the  three  great  races  sprung  from  Noe. 
By  their  knowledge,  their  power,  and  their  number, 
they  represent  the  human  race.  They  render  to  Jesus 
Christ  the  homage  of  the  priesthood,  of  the  empire, 
and  of  the  wisdom  of  nations.  It  is  conjectured  that 
they  came  from  the  country  of  Balaam,  where  the  re- 
membrance of  his  prophecy  remained  :  "  A  star  shall 
depart  out  of  Jacob,  and  the  Man  shall  be  born  in 
Israel."     They  had  seen  the    star,  they    sought  after 


The  Life  of  our  Lord  yesus  Christ.  117  \ 

\ 

has  that  foretaste  of  the  Eucharist,  and  he  chants  his  can- 

4  tide,  which  is  to  resound    throughout   the  entire  world 

till  the  end  of  time  :  "  Now,  O  Lord  !  let  me  die  in 
peace,  because  my  eyes  have  seen  thy  Salvation."  Job 
reappears  in  Simeon  :  "  I  know  that  my  Redeemer 
liveth."  The  holy  old  man  adds  that  Jesus  is  given 
for  the  "  light  of  the  world."  Like  Zachary  and  Eliza- 
beth, he  prophesies  the  calling  of  the  Gentiles,  and  [ 
that  the  benefit  of  redemption  is  extended  to  the  j 
human  race.  John  the  Baptist  is  about  to  speak 
of  the  stones  out  of  which  God  can  raise  up  chil- 
dren to  Abraham,  and  already  those  elect  of  Israel, 
breaking  through  Jewish  constraint,  are  Catholics. 

J  Anna,  the  prophetess,  comes  in  her  turn.     Zachary, 

the  priest  ;  Simeon,  the  just  and  wise  ;  Elizabeth,  the 
spouse  ;  Mary,  the  virgin,  have  prophesied.  Behold, 
the  holy  widow  is  filled  with  the  same  divine  Spirit.  It 
is  written  :  "  I  will  pour  out  my  Spirit  upon  all  flesh; 
and  your  sons  and  your  daughters  shall  prophesy."  All 
these  excellences,  all  this  purity,  all  those  sublime 
virtues,  are  united  in  one  and  the  same  rapture  of  joy, 
and  all  those  inspired  voices  proclaim  with  the  angels  : 


The  Life  of  our  Lord  yesus   Christ. 


the  Man — the  Man-God,  the  Man-King.     They  are  the 
first-fruits  of  the  Gentiles. 

Where  is  the  King  born  ?  This  question  agitates 
Herod  and  all  the  doctors. of  Israel.  They  are  troubled, 
because  they  are  wicked.  They  understand  not  the 
prophecies  :  "  Rejoice  thou,  Jerusalem.  Behold,  thy 
King  comes  >to  thee  full  of  meekness" — "  Venit  tibi 
mansuetus."  They  answer  Herod  :  "  The  King  must 
be  born  in  Bethlehem."  And  not  one  of  them  goes 
there  :  like  the  workers  who  built  the  ark,  and  who  en- 
tered not  therein.  The  Scriptures  are  useless  to  them, 
and  they  show  to  the  Gentiles  what  they  themselves  do 
not  wish  to  see. 

How  did  the  Magi  recognize  that  poor,  helpless  In- 
fant in  his  wretched  home  ?  They  did  not  array  them- 
selves against  the  miraculous.  They  had  the  faith 
which  can  see,  and  the  love  which  sees  better  yet  ;  and, 
having  sought,  they  must  find.  And  then  Mary,  the 
merciful,  was  there  to  introduce  them  :  "  They  find  the 
Child  with  its  mother."  We  observe  a  triple  confession 
in  the  words  of  the  Magi  :  "  Where  is  born  the  King  of 
the  Jews  ?  We  have  come  to  adore  him."  They  ac- 
knowledge him  Man,  King,  and  God:  Man,  because  he 
is  born  ;  King,  that  is  the  name  they  give  him  ;  God, 
because  they  come  to  adore  him.  The  presents  they 
offer  speak  the  same  language:  to  the  King,  gold;  to 
the  God,  incense;  to  the  Man,  who  dies,  myrrh — per- 
fume for  the  sepulchre.  The  Church  consecrates  those 
beautiful  symbols,  and  commands  us  to  offer  to  Jesus 
the  gold  of  charity,  the  incense  of  prayer,  and  the  myrrh 
of  compassion. 

Compassion  !  it  is  due  to  the  Son  and  to  the  Mother.  0 
Here,  in   Bethlehem,  end  for  Jesus  triumphs  without 
bitterness;  here  end  for  Mary  joys  without  tears.      Be- 


The  Life  of  our  Lord  Jesus   Christ.  1 1 9 

hold  already  the  point  of  the  sword  of  which  Simeon 
spoke  to  her — the  sword  which  will  pierce  her  heart. 
Joseph  is  warned  in  a  dream  that  Herod  seeks  the  Child 
to  destroy  it.  He  does  not  ask  why  this  marvellous 
Child,  to  whom  are  promised  so  many  noble  fortunes, 
must  fly  to  escape  death.  The  Gospel  is  a  lesson  of 
obedience:  Mary  is  Mother  through  obedience  ;  Jesus 
is  born  to  be  obedient,  even  to  the  cross  ;  Joseph  obeys. 
Nothing  indicates  that  he  could  have  known  the  mys- 
tery of  that  flight  :  to  obey  is  to  know.  He  imme- 
diately arises:  "  He  is  submissive,  and  complains  not; 
he  departs  and  goes  into  Egypt,  where  he  has  no  ac- 
quaintance, without  knowing  when  he  will  return  to  his 
country,  to  his  workshop,  and  to  his  poor,  humble  hut. 
Jesus  dwells  not  with  us  for  nothing;  we  must  take 
part  in  his  crosses."  Hut  why  those  crosses?  "  Was 
there  no  other  means  of  saving,  except  that  of  flight  so 
precipitate?  God  does  not  wish  to  do  everything  mi- 
raculously, and  it  belongs  to  his  providence  to  follow 
often  the  ordinary  course,  which  is  as  much  his  as  ex- 
traordinary ways.  The  Son  of  God  came  in  infirmity. 
To  conform  himself  to  this  state,  he  has  subjected  him- 
self voluntarily  to  trials  and  encounters  common  to 
human  life,  and  by  the  same  dispensation  which 
brought  it  to  pass  that,  during  the  time  of  his  ministry, 
he  withdrew  himself,  he  hid  himself,  to  baffle  the  wiles 
and  secret  machinations  of  his  enemies,  he  was  also 
obliged  to  seek  an  asylum  in  Egypt."*  The  Scriptures 
say  nothing  of  his  journey  to,  nor  of  his  sojourn  in, 
Egypt.  According  to  a  tradition,  when  the  Holy  Family 
traversed  the  desert  where  the  Hebrews  had  wandered, 
flowers  and  fruits  ornamented  suddenly  those  arid  soli- 

*  Bossuct. 


I20  The  Life  of  our  Lord  yesus   Christ. 


tudes.     At  least,  Jesus  himself  was  the  seed  of  those  \ 

flowers  and  those  admirable  fruits  that  we  will  see  ger-  j 

initiating  there  when  his  servants  shall  come  to  the 
desert.  \ 

Meanwhile,  Herod  causes  all  the  children  about  the  [ 

country  of  Bethlehem,  up  to  the  age  of  two  years,  to  be 
put  to  death.     Herod  was  the  king  of  the  world.    Many  ; 

traits  of  his  cruelty  and  policy  equal  that  of  this  massa- 
cre. When  tyrants  fear,  they  are  revengeful  ;  and  those 
who  can  do  what  they  please  are  liable  to  fear  every- 
body. Jeremias  said  :  "  Cries  are  heard  in  Rama  ;  tears 
and  wailings  innumerable.  Rachel  mourns  for  her  chil- 
dren, and  cannot  be  consoled,  because  they  are  no 
more."  Rachel  was  interred  at  Bethlehem.  The  Holy 
Ghost  attributes  to  her,  in  St.  Matthew's  gospel,  those 
)  wailingsand  lamentations  of  the  mothers  which  re-echoed 

at  the  beginning  of  the  Church.  Bossuet  condemns, 
with  just  indignation,  those  critics  who  would  wish,  in 
order  to  make  certain  this  belief,  that  profane  historians 
had  mentioned  this  cruelty  of  Herod,  as  well  as  the 
others.  Our  faith  depends  not  on  what  the  negligence 
or  the  policy  of  the  historians  of  the  world  make  them 
say  or  not  say.  Human  motives  alone  were  sufficient 
to  hinder  St.  Matthew  from  doing  injury  to  his  gospel 
by  inserting  in  it  a  fact  of  this  kind,  if  it  had  not  been 
indisputable.  Happy  children  !  whose  lives  were  immo- 
lated to  preserve  the  life  of  the  Saviour.  Jesus  says: 
"Suffer  little  children  to  come  to  me."  How  often 
this  word  has  consoled  mothers!  If  the  mothers  of 
Bethlehem  had  known  this  mystery,  instead  of  wailings  \ 

and  lamentations  we  would  hear  but  benedictions  and 
praise.  They  would  have  known  that  their  sons  were 
not  dead,  and  that  the  baptism  of  their  blood  had,  on 
the  contrary,  obtained  for  them  eternal  life  ;  and  that 


The  Life  of  our  Lord  jfcsus   Christ.  121 

where  Christ  has   called  the    little   infants  his  mercy 
wishes  also  to  bring  their  mothers. 

Herod  is  no  more;  Joseph,  always  warned  and  al- 
ways obedient,  quits  Egypt  and  betakes  himself  to 
Nazareth.  "He  shall  be  called  a  Nazarene."'  The 
word  Nazarene  contains  a  great  mystery.  Nazarene 
means  one  separated  from  the  people,  consecrated  to 
God,  consecrated  to  penance.  Pilate  accomplished  the 
prophecies  by  inscribing  this  word  on  the  title  of  the 


cross.     But  while  Jesus  Christ  is  the   fulfilment  of  the 


ancient  prophecies,  his  entire  life  in  this  world  and  all 
his  words  are  the  prophecy  of  future  things.  Why  is 
he  already  persecuted?  To  warn  the  Church,  replies 
Bossuct.      "  This  King,  whose  kingdom   is    not  of  this 

world,"   Herod    hates   from    his   birth,    and    bequeaths 

)  - 

that   hatred    to  his  house.       Thus  the   hatred    for  the 

rising  infant  Church  has  been  perpetuated  from  prince 
to  prince,  from  temporal  potentate  to  temporal  poten-  ( 

tate  ;  thus  a  twofold  persecution  has  been    raised    up 
against  the   Church,  the   first   blood)-,  the  second  less 
violent,  but  which  nevertheless  oppresses  her.  Tyranny 
J  has  not  lost  that  odor  of  Herod. 

At  the  age  of  twelve  years  Jesus  pronounced  the  fust 
discourse  that  the  Gospel  has  preserved  for  us  ;  bespoke 
it  in  the  Temple,  and  it  proves  his  deity.  The  Gospel 
prepares  us  for  it  when  it  says  that  the  Child,  seated 
among  the  doctors,  heard  them  and  interrogated  them. 
He  is  seated  among  the  masters  in  spite  of  youthful- 
ness  ;    probably  because,  after  having  heard  him,  sur-  ( 

prised  at  his  knowledge,  they  themselves  called  him  to 
that  rank.  To  prove  his  humanity,  he  listens;  to  de- 
monstrate his  divinity,  he  interrogates  with  intelligence  ; 
and  his  answers  to  questions  they  put  to   him,  or  to 


l~ 


122  The  Life  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ. 

those  he  himself  proposes,  excite  the  admiration  of  all 
those  who  hear  him. 

His  mother,  after  three  days'  search,  finding  him,  full 
of  sorrow  and  grief,  says  to  him  :  "  My  son,  we  have 
sought  you  quite  sorrowful,  your  father  and  myself." 
He  answers  with  some  apparent  severity,  "  Why  did 
you  seek  after  me  ?  Did  you  not  know  I  must  be  about 
the  things  that  are  of  my  Father?"  She  speaks  of 
Joseph,  and  he  speaks  of  God.  Mary  herself  does  not 
comprehend  him.  If  they  had  comprehended  and  under- 
stood ;  if  they  had  known  all  that  the  Son  of  God  was, 
how  could  they  have  withstood  that  majesty  ?  It  was  ne- 
cessary that  that  divine  majesty  should  be  twice  veiled 
even  to  Mary.  But  the  reverence  of  Joseph  sufficiently 
showed  how  much  of  the  divine  appeared  on  this  oc- 
casion through  the  human  nature  of  Christ.  "  And 
Mary  preserved  all  this  in  her  memory"  ;  and,  as  it  is 
again  written,  "She  meditated  this  in  her  heart." 
She  learns  detachment  from  the  world  ;  she  makes  her 
novitiate  for  the  day  of  the  cross.  This  recital  is  from 
St.  Luke.  We  love  to  represent  to  ourselves  St.  Luke 
receiving  knowledge  of  those  details  from  the  mouth 
of  Mary. 

The  Gospel  adds  :  "  Jesus  went  down  with  Mary  and 
Joseph,  and  he  was  subject  to  them."  This  is  one  of  the 
words  which  hold  together  human  society — submissive 
to  paternal  authority,  submissive  in  the  humblest  labors, 
submissive  for  thirty  years  ! 

Up  to  the  preaching  of  the  son  of  Zachary  we 
know  nothing  more  of  the  life  of  Jesus;  only  that  he 
dwelt  with  his  parents,  and  was  submissive  to  them, 
earning  his  livelihood  by  the  work  of  his  hands.  He 
did  not  travel  to  instruct  himself  in  the  famous  sciences 
of  the  Egyptians  and  the  Greeks.   The  Jews,  astonished 


The  Life  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ. 


123 


at  his  wisdom,  ask  one  another  if  this  be  not  he  whom 
they  have  seen  among  them  in  the  humble  condition 
of  a  mechanic,  the  son  of  a  carpenter.  According  to 
the  testimony  of  St.  Justin,  he  made  yokes  for  ploughs. 
His  heavenly  bread  was  to  accomplish  the  will  of  his 
Father  ;  he  earned  the  terrestrial  bread  by  the  sweat 
of  his  brow.  For  thirty  years  his  life  was  one  con- 
tinued sermon  of  obedience,  of  humility,  and  of 
travail. 

There  is  another  word  which  astonishes  us  :  "  Jesus 
aiitem  proficiebat."  How  could  it  be  that  the  Eternal 
Word,  principle  of  all  grace  and  of  all  wisdom,  could 
grow  and  increase  or  advance  in  wisdom  and  grace  be- 
fore God  and  men  ?  Many  fathers  have  examined  this 
question,  and  they  are  truly  the  men  who  have  under- 
stood the  great  difficulties  of  Gospel  study.  According 
to  St.  Gregory,  those  words  can  signify  that  the  wisdom 
of  which  Jesus  was  the  source  was  daily  shed  more  abund 
antly  on  those  who  heard  him,  preparing  them  for  the 
lights  of  his  doctrine.  According  to  St.  Thomas,  Christ 
did  not  wish  from  his  infancy  to  manifest  the  fulness 
of  the  divinity  that  was  in  him,  in  order  to  show  clearly 
that  the  human  nature  with  which  he  was  clothed  was 
not  an  appearance,  but  a  reality,  since  he  submitted 
himself  to  its  conditions  of  feebleness  and  progressive 
development. 

St.  Bonaventurc  does  not  fear  to  cast  a  glance  into 
that  little  cottage  at  Nazareth  where  Jesus  lived  sub- 
missive to  his  mother  and  to  his  reputed  father.  There 
is  the  great  levelling  of  human  pride  ;  there  is  the  life 
of  the  poor,  with  all  its  disgusts  and  petty  annoyances. 
Neither  preaching,  nor  controversy,  nor  miracles — no- 
thing but  obscurity.  Every  day  each  simply  earns 
his  daily  bread.       Joseph,  says  the  holy  doctor,  works 


) 

) 

) 

)  1 24  The  Life  of  our  Loi'd  Jesus   Christ. 

at  his  trade.  Our  Mother,  with  needle  or  spindle  in 
hand,  supplies  on  her  part  the  wants  of  the  house. 
She  performs  other  womanly  offices  :  she  sees  to  the 
good  order  of  the  dwelling,  prepares  the  repast,  waits 
on  her  husband  and  her  Son — all  this  she  does  without 
a  helper.  But  why  should  we  say  without  a  helper  ? 
Is  not  He  there  who  is  come,  according  to  the  expres- 
sion, to  serve?  Jesus,  therefore,  serves  both  her  and 
Joseph.  Doubt  not  that  the  Son  of  God  aided  his 
mother,  and  that  he  attended  to  the  humblest  affairs. 
Yes,  yes,  let  us  not  hesitate  to  think  so  :  the  cares  of 
the  workshop  and  the  cares  of  the  household.  And 
thereby  can  envy  be  rooted  out  of  the  heart  of  the  poor, 
and  wisdom  enter  therein,  and  that  humility  in  every 
)  human  condition  becomes  great  and   glorious  in   the 

eyes  of  the  Christian. 


CHAPTER  III. 

The  Ancestors  of  Jesus— The  Temptation  in  the 
Desert — The  First  Disciples. 


THIS  lesson  of  humility  is  continued  even  to  the 
baptism  which  Jesus  came  to  demand  of  John. 
By  the  baptism  of  Jesus,  says  St.  John  Chrysostom, 
our  sins  are  remitted  ;  by  the  baptism  of  John,  the 
Jews  promised  to  expiate  theirs.  The  baptism  of  Jesus 
is  a  gift  ;  that  of  John  a  work  of  mortification.  This  is 
why  John  hesitates  before  Jesus,  and  Jesus  says  to 
him,  Perform  this  act  ;  he  humbles  himself  to  penance 
like  a  sinner;  and  this  is  the  very  pinnacle  of  justice. 
Our  Lord  Jesus  Christ  accomplishes  now  "all  justice  " 
hi  doing  what  will  be  for  the  Christian  a  source  of  all 
justice — that  is  to  say,  by  receiving  a  baptism  the 
necessity  of  which  no  one  could  ever  after  call  in  ques- 
tion. And  at  length,  going  down  into  the  waters,  he 
purifies  them  ;  he  banishes  the  devil  from  them  ;  he- 
sanctifies  them  by  the  contact  of  his  sacred  flesh  ;  he 
gives  them  the  power  of  regeneration — "the  power  of 
purification,"  says  St.  Bernard.  He  communicates  to 
them  the  privilege  that  his  flesh  has  had  of  Mary,  to 
bring  forth  nothing  but  what  was  pure.  He  does  at  the 
baptism  what  he  will  do  later  at  the  Pasch.  As  he  will 
eat  the  paschal  lamb,  figure  and  remembrance,  and 
give  us  his  flesh  as  pledge  of  eternal  happiness,  so  he 


126  The  Life  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ. 

receives  Jewish  baptism,  an  inefficacious  ceremony; 
but  gives  to  us  a  Christian  baptism,  the  true  source  of 
grace.  In  a  word,  accepting  the  law  and  giving  the 
Gospel,  he  receives  the  shadow,  and  adds  thereto  the 
truth.  { 

The  Holy  Ghost  appears  under  the  form  of  a  dove.  ? 

It  was  proper  that  John  should  see  him.  Invisible  in 
the  substance  of  his  divinity,  he  has  assumed  this  form 
because  by  baptism  we  ought  to  become  as  gentle  and 
simple  as  a  dove  ;  and  it  ought  to  render  us  peaceful  like 
it.  The  dove  is  the  symbol  of  reconciliation,  of  par- 
don, and  of  peace.  The  dove  returns  to  the  ark,  carry- 
ing the  olive  branch,  which  announces  that  the  waters 
)  { 

of  wrath  have  receded,  and  that  life  is  re-born  on  the 

earth. 

It  is  proper  to  make  a  remark  here  on  the  two  gene- 
alogies of  our  Saviour,  presented  differently  and  not  at 
the  same  place  in  Christ's  history,  by  St.  Matthew  and 
St.  Luke.  Their  divergences,  and  the  different  sys- 
tems proposed  to  harmonize  them,  are  not  the  subject 
of  this  book.  It  is  sufficient  to  observe  that  the  gene- 
alogy given  by  St.  Matthew,  which  is  properly  that  of 
St.  Joseph,  spouse  of  Mary,  is  equally  that  of  the  holy 
Virgin,  who.  according  to  the  law,  could  only  espouse 
a  man  of  her  house  ;  and  that  the  proper  genealogy  of 
Mary,  given  by  St.  Luke,  makes  her,  like  the  other, 
descend  from  Davnd.  ( 

From  the  circumstances  and  the  place  of  each  of 
these  genealogies  we  can  draw  important  instruction. 

St.  Matthew,  commencing  with  the  genealogy,  before 
relating  the  carnal  birth,  follows  the  proper  order  of  all  ( 

history,  and  descends  from  the  ancestors  to  the  chil- 
dren, as  the  Word  descended  in  assuming  our  flesh.  He 
commences  at  Abraham,  after  having  first  mentioned 


The  Life  of  our  Lord  yesus  Christ.  127 

David  :  "  The  book  of  the  generation  of  Jesus  Christ, 
son  of  David,  son  of  Abraham."  This  is  an  echo  of 
the  fourth  chapter  of  the  Book  of  Genesis,  entitled 
"  The  Book  of  the  Generation  of  Adam,"  and  a  con- 
trast between  the  new  generation  which  built  up  and 
the  old  generation  which  destroyed.  The  list  points 
out  David  and  Abraham,  because  both  received  a 
particular  promise.  God  had  said  to  Abraham  :  "  All 
nations  of  the  earth  shall  be  blessed  in  thy  race"  ;  and 
to  David  :  "  I  will  place  on  thy  throne  Him  who  shall 
be  born  of  thee."  Both  these  ancient  ancestors  com- 
bine in  themselves  the  triple  dignity  of  the  Messias — ■ 
Abraham,  priest  and  prophet  ;  David,  prophet  and 
king. 

St.  Luke  places  the  genealogy  after  the  baptism, 
and,  starting  from  this  regeneration,  develops  another 
succession  of  ancestors.  He  goes 'backward  from  the 
children  to  the  fathers,  omitting  the  sinful,  whom  St. 
Matthew  had  named  ;  for  whoever  is  reborn  in  God 
becomes  a  stranger  to  his  guilty  ancestors,  being  made 
the  son  of  God. 

In  both  genealogies  the  names  by  their  signification 
prophesy  the  Saviour  by  expressing  some  trait  of 
his  character,  of  his  life,  of  his  mysteries  ;  and  many 
personages  are  at  the  same  the  figure  of  Christ  :  "Abra- 
ham, father  of  many  people  "  ;-  Isaac — gladness.  "  For 
as  Isaac  was  born  at  the  extreme  old  age  of  his  parents 
to  be  their  joy,  less  as  a  child  of  nature  than  of  bene- 
dictions and  graces,  so  Jesus  Christ,  in  later  times, 
was  born  of  a  pure  mother  to  be  the  joy  of  the  uni- 
verse. The  one  was  born  of  a  virgin,  the  other  of  one 
barren  in  her  old  age  ;  both  aside  from  the  course  of 
nature.  Abraham  begets  Isaac,  as  faith  begets  hope. 
Jacob,  son  of  Isaac,  expresses  charity,  which  embrace? 


128  The  Life  of  our  Lord  ye  sus  Christ. 

two  different  lives — the  active  life,  for  love  of  the  neigh- 
bor ;  the  contemplative  life,  for  the  love  of  God.  He 
is  born  of  Abraham  and  of  Isaac,  as  charity  is  born  of 
faith  and  hope."  This  is  the  interpretation  of  St.  John 
Chrysostom.  A  great  many  fathers  have  meditated  on 
this  prophetic  character  of  the  genealogy  of  Christ, 
and  have  unravelled  its  magnificent  mysteries.     "  All 

}  things,"  says  St.  Paul,  "happened  to  the  Jewish  people 

in  figures."  Bossuet  adds,  "  There  is  not  a  page,  there 
is  not  a  word,  in  the  Holy  Scriptures  that  is  not  full  of 
Jesus." 

St.  Matthew,  writing  for  the  Jews,  contents  himself 
with  establishing  that  Christ  descended  from  David 
and   Abraham.       St.    Luke,   writing  after  him    for  all 

;  people,  having  become  the  companion  and  disciple  of  the 

apostle  of  nations,  traces  him  backward  to  the  first  man. 
He  passes  by  Noe,  the  constructor  of  the  ark,  which  is 
a  figure  of  the  Church;  he  passes  by  Enoch,  who,  hav- 
ing been  snatched  from  death,  proves  that  Christ  could 
have  avoided  death,  and  that  he  delivered  himself  up 
voluntarily  to  the  cross  ;  he  arrives  at  Adam.  Thus 
he  commences  the  genealogy  with  a  son  of  God,  and 
terminates  it  with  the  Son  of  God — in  this  sense  :  that 
Adam  was  made  by  the  hand  of  God.  Adam,  created 
at  first  in  figure,  is  born  afterward  in  reality.  Jesus 
Christ,  by  whom  all  things  have  been  made,  is  truly 
the  father  of  Adam.  He  is  the  Word,  who,  by  putting 
on  humanity,  elevates  his  carnal  ancestors  even  to  God. 
He  makes  them  children  of  God.  Thereby  again  St. 
Luke  shows  that  the  co-operation  of  man  has  nothing 
to  do  with  the  generation  of  Christ.  Adam  has  a  Fath- 
er who  forms  him  without  any  germ  ;  he  has  no  mo- 
ther. Jesus,  as  man,  has  a  Virgin  Mother  ;  he  has  no 
father. 


The  Life  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ.  129 

We  must  remark  the  last  particularity,  which  is  very 
important.  Among  the  ancestors  of  Jesus  St.  Matthew 
only  mentions  some  women,  and  all  those  whom  he 
names  are  signalized  by  a  stain  of  sin  :  two  idolaters  — 
Rahab  the  Chaananitc,  and  Ruth  the  Moabite  ;  three 
of  bad  character — Thamar  the  incestuous  ;  that  Rahab 
whom  we  hold  to  have  been  the  courtesan  at  Jericho, 
who  received  into  her  house  the  spies  of  Israel,  and 
sent  them  away  safe  and  sound  ;  Bcthsabee,  an  adul- 
tress.  And  this  last  woman  is  not  called  by  her  name, 
but  by  her  crimes.  "  She  who  had  been  the  wife  of 
Uriah."  We  find  here  many  deep  mysteries.  Rahab 
and  Ruth,  daughters  of  infidel  people,  becoming  the 
daughters  of  Jacob  and  the  .ancestors  of  the  Messias, 
announce  that  the  Gentiles  will  have  the  right  to  enter 
the  Church.     Rahab,  espoused  of  Salmon,  son   of  the 


chief  of  the  tribe  of  Juda,  notwithstanding  her  idol- 
atry and  her  ignominy,  separates  herself  from  the  hatred 
of  her  people.  Her  name  signifies  hunger,  extension, 
an  impetuous,  rapid  movement.    She  typifies  the  Church 


of  the  nations,  which,  espoused  to  the  true  heir  of  Juda 
and  cleansed  of  her  stains,  hungers  and  thirsts  after  jus- 
tice, whose  reign  she  will  extend  upon  earth.  In  the 
Gospel  we  rediscover  Rahab  in  the  persons  of  the 
Samaritan  ;  of  Magdalene,  converted  and  purified  ;  of  \ 

Paul,  vessel  of  election  ;  and  the  name  of  the  son  of 
Israel  who  wedded  Rahab — Salmon — signifies  :  "  Re- 
ceive this  vessel."  ) 

Ruth  ("  she  who  sees  and  hastens  ")  is  another  figure 
or  type  of  souls  that  are  called,  another  figure  of  the 
Church.  The  son  of  Salmon  and  of  Rahab,  Boaz  ("  he 
in  whom  is  found  strength"),  contracts  an  alliance  with 
the  gentle  daughter  of  M  cab,  which  the  law  forbids. 
On   account  of  her  virtues  he  causes  her  to   enter  the 


130  The  Life  of  our  Lord  y  es  us  CJirist. 

society  of  a  people  who  should  reject  her  as  a  stranger. 
Ruth  the  Moabite  is  the  type  of  the  woman  afflicted 
with  the    issue    of  blood,  who   receives   the    name    of  ; 

"daughter";  she  prefigures  the  Chaananite,  so  perse-  ( 

vering,  so  triumphant  in  prayer  ;  the  centurion  Corne- 
lius, and  every  one  else  who,  enlightened  by  purity  of 
heart,  abandons  vain  attachments  and  hastens  to  God. 

As  to  the  sinful  women,  Thamar  and  Bethsabee, 
their  presence  gives  us  to  understand  that  He  who  has 
desired  to  be  born  of  sinners  will  be  anxiously  zealous 
to  redeem  sinners.  His  goodness,  which  takes  upon  it 
our  iniquities,  and  subjects  itself  to  injuries,  does  not 
disdain  the  bar-sinister  of  a  tainted  origin.  And  in 
order,  St.  Ambrose  says,  to  remove  from  us  the  pride 
of  birth,  he  has  shown  us  the  benefit  of  his  incarnation, 
derived  though  it  was  from  such  ancestors  and  begin- 
ning with  them.  Bethsabee  is  not  called  by  her  name, 
because  she  was  not  only  an  adulteress,  but  guilty  of 
participating  in  the  death  of  her  husband.  The  name 
of  Uriah,  that  is  used  instead  of  hers,  recalls  the  great- 
est crime  of  David  ;  and  in  this  remembrance  there  are 
two  lessons — human  weakness  and  the  power  and 
beauty  of  repentance. 

Jesus,  being  baptized,  goes  into  the  desert  ;  and,  be- 
fore treating  with  men,  he  puts  himself  face  to  face 
alone  with  God,  to  fortify  himself  in  his  intercourse 
with  men  for  the  service  of  God.  The  authority  he 
comes  to  establish  on  a  new  principle,  and  to  burden 
with  duties  hitherto  unknown,  stood  in  need  of  learning 
of  him  a  practice  carefully  observed  in  his  Church.  He 
will  be  tempted  by  the  devil  ;  he  is  not  ignorant  of  this. 
His  strength  goes  to  seek  a  danger  which  human  weak-  • 
ness  must  learn  to  shun.  He  also  goes  to  furnish  a 
model  of  resistance  in  the  inevitable  combat.      "  If  you 


The  Life  of  our  Lord  ye  sus  Christ.  131 


wish  to  serve  God,"  says  Wisdom,  "prepare  your  soul  ( 


for  temptation."  He  remains  in  the  desert  for  forty 
days.  Forty  is  the  number  of  expectation,  of  penance, 
of  preparation — forty  ages  of  the  expectation  of  the 
Messias  ;  forty  years  of  expiation  between  Egypt  and 
the  promised  land  ;  forty  days  of  deluge  ;  forty  days  of 
purification  and  mortification,  to  prepare  the  soul  for 
the  joys  of  the  Paschal  festival. 

Jesus  is  in  the  desert  with  wild  beasts,  and  he  is  hun- 
gry.    The  angels  are  with  him,  and  he  remains  there 
forty  days  without  eating.      We  behold  in  him,  there- 
fore, both  the  man  and  the  God.     The  demon  has  but 
^  a    confused    idea    of  the   divine   secrets,   not   knowing 

whether  Jesus  is  man  or  God.     At  length  he  approaches 
j  him.     Against  the  new  Adam  he  employs  the  means 

\  which  he  used  against  the  first,  and  which  he  avails  him- 

self of  against  all  men.  He  touches  successively  on  the 
three  passions — on  the  gratification  of  the  senses,  on 
pride,  and  ambition.  Under  another  form  it  is  thus  he 
ruined  Eve. 

To  Eve:  "  Why  do  you  not  eat  of  this  fruit?  "  To 
Jesus:  "Command  these  stones  be  changed  into 
bread."  To  Eve  :  "  You  will  be  as  God."  To  Jesus  : 
"  If  you  be  the  Son  of  God,  cast  yourself  down."  He 
quotes  the  Scriptures,  and  he  cites  them  falsely,  as 
heretics  do.  He  says  to  Eve:  "You  will  know  good 
and  evil."  He  says  to  Jesus  :  "  I  will  give  you  the 
kingdoms  if,  falling  down  before  me,  you  adore  me." 

To  fawn,  crouch,  and  debase  one's  self  is  the  road  to 
human  glories  ;  it  is  the  king  of  nothing  who  promises 
to  load  us  with  abundance.  Thus,  remarks  St.  Gregory 
VII.,  the  princes  of  the  earth,  who  are  not  sure  of  a  day, 
dare  speak  to  the  Vicar  of  Jesus  Christ.  Those  haughty 
potentates    say    to    him:    "We  will   give    you   power, 


The  Life  of  our  Lord  yesus  Christ. 

honor,  riches,  if  you  acknowledge  our  supremacy;  if 
you  make  us  your  God  ;  if,  falling  at  our  feet,  you 
adore  us." 

Satan  addressed  this  very  language  to  Judas,  to  Ma- 
homet, to  Luther,  to  many  others  who  listen  to  him. 
Thus  he  still  speaks,  and  will  speak  till  the  end  of  time  ; 
and  even  to  the  end  many,  very  many,  will  hear  him, 
and  will  prostrate  themselves  before  him  and  adore 
him.  Some,  like  Judas,  will  receive  but  a  paltry  sum, 
soon  followed  with  despair  and  eternal  shame  ;  others, 
like  Mahomet  and  Luther,  will  see  themselves  wielding 
the  sword  with  one  hand  and  the  torch  in  the  other,  and 
will  become  lasting  scourges  in  the  world  ;  but  they  will 
not  escape  the  despair  of  Judas,  and  the  glory  they 
acquire  will  vanish  from  them.  Where  now  is  the 
work  of  Mahomet  ?  Where  is  that  of  Luther  ?  Even 
shutting  out  the  idea  of  eternal  torments,  what  of  them 
remains  but  tears  and  blood  which  they  have  caused  to 
flow  ?  Jesus  exhibits  to  Satan  neither  the  frailty  of 
man  nor  the  omnipotence  of  God.  Employing  the  vic- 
torious wisdom  of  the  man  instructed  of  God  and  faith- 
ful to  God,  he  answers  him  each  time  with  a  short  sen- 
tence of  the  Scriptures,  and  he  overthrows  him,  as  David 
did  Goliath,  with  a  pebble  taken  from  the  brook. 

Ever  since  the  coming  of  the  Magi  the  Jews  had 
given  of  themselves  signs  of  their  reprobation  ;  they 
gave  a  second  one,  more  decisive,  after  the  sojourn  of 
Christ  in  the  desert.  John  the  Baptist,  having  declared 
to  them  "  that  he  is  not  the  Christ  nor  Elias,"  adds  : 
"  There  is  One  in  the  midst  of  you  whom  you  do  not 
know."  The  great,  the  rich,  the  learned,  are  deputed 
to  John,  hear  this  word,  and  inform  themselves  no 
more  about  Jesus,  and  John  the  Baptist  is  silent.  But 
the  following  day,  being  surrounded   by  his  own,  who 


J_ 


~1 


llie  Life  of  our  Lord  yes  us  Christ.  133 

arc  simple  and  just,  without  any  question  on  their  part, 
lie  points  out  to  them  Jesus  :  "  Behold  the  Lamb  of 
God."  And  John  and  Andrew,  disciples  of  John  the 
Baptist,  follow  Him  of  whom  it  had  been  predicted  that 
"  the  just  will  love  him."  Thus  Jesus  wished  to  do 
honor  to  his  precursor  by  receiving  from  him  his  two 
first  disciples. 

We  have  already  noticed  the  only  word  that  Jesus 
used  to  attach  them  to  him  :  "  Come  and  see."  That 
is  all.  They  remain  with  him.  The  Gospel  indicates 
the  moment  :  "  It  was  at  the  tenth  hour" — that  is  to 
say,  toward  the  evening.  Toward  the  evening  of 
life,  if  we  are  covered  with  the  shadows  of  sin  and 
already  touched  with  the  cold  chill  of  death,  let  us  not 
say  it  is  too  late.  Let  us  seek  Jesus:  "  Lord,  where 
dwellest  thou  ?  "  and  he  will  conduct  us  to  his  dwelling, 
to  the  eternal  mansions. 

Jesus  waited  for  the  signal  from  John  the  Baptist. 
The  following  day  Andrew  brought  him  to  Simon,  and 
Simon  made  the  first  act  of  sublime  faith  ;  for  he  had 
not,  like  Andrew  and  John,  the  authoritative  word  of 
John  the  Baptist.  Nor  did  any  personage  of  the 
Gospel  believe  so  firmly  yet  ostensibly  on  so  light  a 
foundation.  Jesus  had  seen  him — intuitus  cum — seen 
into  the  deepest  recesses  of  his  heart,  and  said  to  him  : 
"You  will  be  called  Peter."  Philip  is  called  afterward 
spontaneously  by  this  sole  word  of  his  Master  :  "  Fol- 
low me." 

Philip  speaks  to  Nathanael.  This  person  is  of  a 
different  character — he  jeers;  Philip,  a  simple,  unedu- 
cated man,  does  not  dispute  with  him — what  good  is  it  ? 
He  contents  himself  by  saying  :  "  Come  and  see."  And 
Jesus  gently  compassionates  the  caviller,  a  slow  but 
sturdy  and   straightforward   spirit.     He  draws  him  to 


The  Life  of  our  Lord  Jesus   Christ, 

him.  "Here  is,"  he  says,  "a  true  Israelite — one  in 
whom  there  is  no  guile."  Israel  signifies  sincere,  who 
zvalks  straight  before  the  Lord  ;  and  this  name  was 
substituted  for  Jacob,  which  means  supplanter,  because 
from  Jacob  should  be  born  Him  who  is  the  truth. 

Nathanael  replies:  "  How  did  you  know  me?"  He 
thought  without  doubt  that  Philip  had  described  him. 
Jesus  yields  to  his  weakness  and  gives  him  a  sign. 
"  Before  Philip  called  thee  I  had  seen  thee  under  the 
fig-tree."  Nathanael  shows  a  sincerity  that  explains 
the  condescension  of  the  Saviour.  He  no  longer  re- 
sists. "  Master,"  says  he,  "  you  are  the  King  of 
Israel."  Our  Lord  answers  him,  as  he  will  at  a  future 
time  reply  to  the  confession  of  Thomas  :  "  You  believe 
because  I  have  seen  you  under  the  fig-tree.  You  will 
see  things  greater  than  these."  The  words  he  adds 
have  a  relation  to  the  prophetic  dream  of  Jacob,  the 
remembrance  of  which  he  has  evoked,  and,  at  the  same 
time,  they  invite  his  first  disciples  to  a  higher  expecta- 
tion than  that  of  a  temporal  Messias.  "  Truly,  truly, 
I  say  to  you,  you  will  see  the  heavens  opening  over 
the  Son  of  Man,  and  the  angels  ascending  and  descend- 
ing." 

This  is  all,  and  thus  the  first  disciples  were  attracted 
to  him — no  discourses,  no  shining  miracles,  no  pro- 
mise of  earthly  things.  Jesus  turns  himself  toward 
Andrew  and  John,  and  he  looks  on  Peter,  and  he  says 
to  Philip,  "  Follow  me,"  and  to  Nathanael,  "  I  have 
seen  thee."  All  remain,  all  will  be  faithful  to  death,  all 
will  die  in  testimony  of  their  faith,  and  will  see  the 
heavens  opening  up.  This  first  promise  of  Jesus  pro- 
phesies Thabor,  the  Ascension,  and  the  ecstasy  of 
Stephen,  the  first  martyr  of  the  Gospel — that  gentle 
Stephen   who,  prostrated  to  the  earth  by  a  volley  of 


The  Life  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ.  135 

stones,  cries  out:  "  I  see  the  heavens  opened,  and   the 
Son  of  Man  seated  at  the  right  hand  of  God." 

Notwithstanding  the  brevity  of  this  sketch  and  the 
necessity  of  omitting  so  many  things,  it  is  difficult 
not  to  recognize  God  in  it.  And  nevertheless  he 
is  barely  seen.  But  who  else  but  God  could  in  this 
way  make  use  of  occasions  to  announce  himself  by 
such  heralds  and  inspire  them  with  such  language,  and 
thus  to  fill  up  the  past  and  the  future  ?  The  entire 
Gospel  is  contained  in  this  prologue  ;  its  whole  dog- 
ma, its  whole  morality,  its  combats,  its  glory — in  a 
word,  its  divinity.  Man  obeys  and  suffers  ;  God  com- 
mands :  faith  is  the  foundation  of  all.  Excepting  the 
divine  Person,  there  will  appear  no  miracle  hereafter 
greater  than  the  conception  and  life  of  John  the 
Baptist  ;  no  sanctity  more  perfect  than  his  and  that  of 
Mary  and  Joseph;  no  humility  more  profound  than  the 
birth  at  the  crib  and  the  life  at  Nazareth  ;  no  labor,  no 
endurance,  harder  than  the  forty  days  in  the  desert. 
Thabor  will  not  be  more  luminous  than  the  night  of 
Bethlehem  and  the  glorification  on  the  banks  of  the 
Jordan;  the  Uncreated  Wisdom  will  not  manifest 
itself  by  acts  more  victorious  and  words  more  pro- 
found ;  prophecy,  that  mental  grasping  of  the 
future,  will  never  more  truly  reveal  the  Master  and 
Possessor  of  eternity.  The  King  is  in  the  midst  of  his 
court  ;  the  Conqueror  is  at  the  head  of  his  arm)'.  He 
marches  preceded  by  his  prophets  on  earth  and  in 
heaven;  he  carries  his  crown  of  martyrs;  he  is  sur- 
rounded with  his  cortege  of  virgins  and  of  saints  re- 
presenting all  conditions,  all  ages,  all  characters  of  the 
Christian  and  religious  life.  Who  are  like  Mary, 
Joseph,  and  John  the  Baptist,  Zachary  and  Elizabeth, 
Simeon  and  Anna?      Mis   people  are   already  formed  . 


The  Life  of  our  Lord  'jfesus  Christ. 


the  shepherds  and  the  Magi  ;  the  simple,  to  whom 
simplicity  gives  knowledge  ;  the  learned,  to  whom 
science  has  afforded  simplicity  ;  and  he  has  shown  by 
what  arms  he  will  conquer  others.  He  has  chosen  his 
principal  generals  and  captains.  John  is  chosen,  Peter 
is  named.  In  fact,  he  has  already  fought  the  fight  ; 
he  baffled  by  a  dream  the  crafty  policy  of  Herod  ;  he 
upset  by  one  word  the  power  of  darkness,  over  whom 
one  day  he  will  close  the  eternal  abyss,  while  he  will 
call  to  eternal  joys  the  happy  multitude  of  believ- 
ers, and  the  songs  of  victory  will  resound  for  ever, 
Gloria,  pax  !  celebrating  him  who  is  for  ever  the  King 
of  Glory  and  the  Prince  of  Peace. 


I 


BOOK  II. 


THE  HAPPY  YEAR. 


CHAPTER   I. 


MARRIAGE   FEAST   OF   CANA — MIRACULOUS   FISHING. 


THREE  days  after  the  promise  made  to  Nathanael 
commenced  that  public  life  of  teaching  and  in- 
struction whose  fruitfu lncss  is  inexplicable  to  those 
who  do  not  see  the  Divinity  operating  in  it. 

Its  first  scene  is  at  Cana,  a  small  village  in  Galilee, 
in  a  house  where  a  marriage  festival  is  celebrated.  The 
Holy  Virgin  assists  at  it,  doubtless  as  a  kinswoman  or 
relation,  and  probably  presides  at  the  feast  ;  Jesus  goes 
there,  accompanied  by  his  first  disciples.  Through  the 
intercession  of  Mary  a  miracle  is  wrought,  whose  pro- 
found meaning  we  will  forthwith  consider;  but  his  pre- 
sence at  the  nuptials  contains  another  lesson  we  should 
first  understand.  He  came  to  regenerate  man.  As 
he  went  down  unto  the  flood  of  penance  to  sanctify 
the  waters  which  will  be  made  the  matter  of  the  sacra- 
ment of  spiritual  regeneration,  so  he  goes  over  to  the 
marriage  feast  and  renders  it  glorious  by  his  presence 
and  by  a  miracle,  so  as  to  honor  for  ever  the   marriage 

137 


138 


The  Life  of  our  Lord  J"estis  Christ. 


state — the  future  sacrament  which  will  purify  the  source 
of  life. 

Marriage  was  then,  even  among  the  Jews,  looked 
upon  as  the  most  undervalued  of  contracts.  Josephus, 
the  historian,  a  grave  and  sagacious  man,  informs  us 
that  he  had  been  divorced  three  times.  Divorce  and 
celibacy  thinned  the  ranks  of  Roman  society.  Augus- 
tus sought  to  apply  a  remedy  for  this.  He  commanded 
his  senate  to  enact  laws  and  his  poets  to  sing  verses  ; 
but  the  law  that  enjoined  marriage  bore  the  names  of 
two  celibate  consuls,  and  there  was  no  more  confirmed 
bachelor  than  Horace,  who  wrote  the  best  verses.  The 
emperor  met  almost  with  the  same  difficulty  in  finding 
young  women  who  would  accept  the  condition  of  a  ves- 
tal ;  a  matron  who  had  not  been  divorced  ;  a  rich  man 
who  would  marry.  Jesus  Christ  gives  to  marriage  a 
twofold  majesty:  it  becomes  sacramental  and  indissolu- 
ble. Against  the  enemies  of  all  classes  and  degrees 
who  would  replunge  it  into  its  former  degradation  he 
surrounds  and  defends  it  with  the  eternal  rampart  of  his 
own  presence,  so  that,  at  least  among  the  faithful,  the 
indissolubility  of  the  conjugal  tie  may  prevail,  over 
all  corruption  of  doctrines,  customs,  and  of  '  laws. 
Therefore,  he  begins  by  establishing  marriage — that  is, 
the  Christian  family.  Thus  he  places  his  own  memo- 
rial at  the  base  of  the  social  edifice  ;  with  one  word  he 
will  build  up  the  edifice,  and  the  immense  work  will  be 
consummated. 

Let  us  remark,  once  for  all,  that  a  great  many  of  the 
words  and  acts  of  Jesus  were   not   immediately  under- 


The  Life  of  our  Lord  jfesus  Christ. 


*39 


stand  them  throughout  the  course  of  ages,  sometimes 
by  the  fruits  they  have  borne,  sometimes  again  by  the 
interpretations  of  the  Church.  The  Church  is  a  per- 
petual miracle  :  she  rejoices  our  hearts,  and  our  minds, 
and  our  eyes;  she  will  rejoice  to  the  end  the  pos- 
terity of  Christ.  The  manna  falls  from  heaven,  al- 
ways the  same,  and  yet  always  varied  to  suit  the 
tastes  of  those  who  eat  it  ;  the  Gospel  yields  its 
harvest  of  truth,  always  the  same  and  always 
new,  according  to  the  wants  of  the  world  at  the 
different  times  when  it  buds  forth.  The  evidences  of 
truth  brought  forth  in  the  past  remain  in  the  treasury 
of  faith,  while  new  evidences  suggest  the  answers  made 
in  advance  to  objections  not  yet  raised,  but  which  the 
Holy  Ghost  has  anticipated.  Thus  the  Gospel,  in 
which  all  the  ancient  prophecies  have  their  fulfilment, 
is  itself  a  perpetual  prophecy. 

The  miracle  of  Cana  was  one  of  those  prophetic  acts 
by  which  Jesus  Christ,  in  manifesting  himself,  wishes 
again  to  prophesy  of  himself  and  his  Church. 

During  the  marriage  feast,  the  wine  having  failed, 
Mary,  yielding  to  the  natural  feeling  of  her  generous, 
affectionate  heart,  and  doubtless  also  moved  by  a 
divine  impulse,  turns  toward  Jesus,  and  addresses  him 
in  this  language,  or  rather  implores  him  by  this  myste- 
rious prayer:  "They  have  no  more  wine."  Jesus 
appears  to  refuse  what  she  demands.  He  says  to  her: 
"  Woman,  what  is  that  to  thee  and  me  ?  My  hour  is 
not  yet  come."  But  Mary  says  to  the  waiters  :  "  Do  as 
he  bids  you." 

There  were  there  six  stone  jars  which  served  for 
purification.  Jesus  ordered  the  waiters  to  fill  them 
with  water,  and,  when  they  had  filled  them  up  to  the 
very   brim,  he  said   to  them,  "  Now  draw  out."     The 


140  The  Life  of  our  Lord  Jesus   Christ. 

six  jars,  which  contained  each  from  two  to  three  mea- 
sures, were  found  full  of  wine,  whose  excellent  flavor 
surprised  all  the  guests.  St.  John  the  Evangelist,  an 
eye-witness,  adds:  "This  beginning  of  miracles  did 
Jesus  in  Cana  of  Galilee,  and  manifested  his  glory,  and 
his  disciples  believed  in  him." 

The  increase  of  faith  in  the  disciples  was  the  imme- 
diate reason  of  this  miracle,  and  a  sufficient  reason, 
since  their  salvation  depended  on  their  faith,  as  well  as 
our  salvation  depends  on  our  faith.  But  Jesus  does 
nothing  which  is  confined  to  circumstances,  and  there 
is  nothing  in  what  we  here  consider  without  mystery 
and  without  teaching.  His  reply  to  the  holy  Virgin  is 
a  new  proof  that  he  gives  of  his  divinity;  it  was  oppor- 
tune at  the  outset  of  his  public  career. 

In  telling  him  that  the  guests  had  no  more  wine, 
Mary,  as  the  sequel  proves,  asks  him  to  perform  a 
miracle.  It  is  therefore  to  the  divine  nature  she  ad- 
dresses herself,  and  it  is  the  divine  nature  that  answers 
her:  "  Woman,  what  is  that  to  thee  and  me  ?  What 
hast  thou  to  do  with  me?"  (Kenrick).  For  although 
Mary  was  the  Mother  of  the  Man-God,  and,  by  a  con- 
sequence of  the  indissolubility  of  the  two  natures,  the 
Mother  of  God  also,  nevertheless  she  is  not  the  Mo- 
ther of  the  Divinity,  and  there  is  nothing  common  be- 
tween her  and  the  God  whose  hour  has  not  yet  come. 
Many,  for  want  of  reflection,  are  astonished  at  what  they 
call  the  hardness  of  this  language.  Jesus  prefers  to 
give  light  to  the  world  rather  than  afford  a  passing 
pleasure  to  his  mother.  But  who  tells  them  that  in 
expressing  his  sovereign  thoughts  to  her  he  was  want- 
ing in  gentleness  and  filial  respect  ? 

Mary  manifests  no  astonishment,  no  uneasiness,  at  not 
being   heard.     She   instructs   the    waiters  to   do   what 


) 

) 

The  Life  of  our  Lord  yes  us  Christ.  141 

Jesus  might  tell  them.  She  knows  the  power  of  her 
prayer.  And,  indeed,  Jesus  is  forthwith  influenced  by 
it,  and  performs  the  miracle  she  desires.  Thus  he  him- 
self explains  in  advance,  in  the  first  act  of  his  public 
mission,  that  profound  expression  which  he  pronounced 
)  from  the  summit  of  the  cross  when  his  mission  termi- 


by  changing  the  substance  when  he  wishes  to  show  that 
he  is  the  author  of  nature.  The  withered  branch  blos- 
soms again  ;  the  rod  is  changed  into  a  serpent  ;  vast 
bodies  of  water  become  blood  ;  the  hand  of  God  makes 
a  dry  road  through  the  vast  watery  deep,  and  causes 


nated  :  "  Man,  behold  your  Mother" — behold  her  who 
incessantly  prays  to  me  for  you,  and  whose  prayers  I 
will  always  hear  and  render  effectual,  even  to  changing 

\  the  order  of  nature  and  the  course  of  things. 

By  a  complete  change  of  substance  the  water  be- 
comes exquisite  wine.  This  miracle  is  the  effect  of 
the  simple  will  of  God,  of  his  inward  thought,  not  ar- 
ticulated. The  word  of  man  only  signifies  ;  that  of 
God  accomplishes  at  the  same  time  it  signifies  ;  it  creates 
what  it  says.  The  earth  was  not,  the  heavens  were 
not,  the  sea  was  not  ;  God  speaks — those  things  spring 
forth,  they  exist.  The  same  word  which  gave  existence 
to  what  was  not  can  cause  what  is  to  remain,  to  cease, 

)  or  to  be  transformed,  and  it  can  cause  it  to  be  changed 

without  ceasing  or  being  transformed.  According  to 
the  will  of  God,  all  matter,  every  particle  of  matter,  can 
either  fall  back  into  nothingness,  or  be  reduced  to  any 
degree  of  inconsistency  whatever,  or  be  raised  to  any 
form  of  consistency  that  he  may  please  to  give  to  it. 
He  suspends  it,  he  penetrates  it,  he  changes  its  qualities 
— in  short,  he  makes  of  it  what  he  wishes  it  to  be,  and 
it  is  what  he  commands  it  to  be. 

God,  says  St.  Ambrose,  possesses  this  art  of  acting 


142  The  Life  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ. 


the  rushing  torrents  to  stand   as  liquid  walls  to  protect 
the  dry  path  through  the  sea;    the   iron  floats  on  the 
|j  surface   of  the  fountain  ;  the  handful  of  meal  and  the 

j  drop  of  oil   cannot  lose  their  value  ;  the  bitter  waters 

are  sweet  to  drink.      The  Scripture  is  full  of  such  won- 
ders, so  that  we  can  know  that  everything  is  from  the  / 
hand  of  God,  and  that  all  obey  him.  ) 

In  renewing  at   Cana  this  mark  of   his  sovereignty 
he  brings  to  pass  more  quickly  what  he  does  elsewhere  > 

every  day  just  as  wonderfully,  though  we  take  no  heed 
of  it.  Every  day  the  dew  and  rains  falling  from  the 
heavens,  distilled  into  the  bowels  of  the.  earth,  sucked 
in  by  the  roots  of  the  vine,  and  distilled  a  second  time 
in  that  alembic  under  the  rays  of  the  sun,  swell  out 
into  the  bunch  of  grapes.  The  instantaneous  transmu- 
tation is  not  more  difficult  nor  more  mysterious  than 
the  other.  He  who  from  nothing  created  substances 
and  the  means  by  which  they  are  transformed,  can 
transform  them  without  employing  any  medium  what- 
ever. 

At  the  same  time,  this  change  which  Jesus  makes  in 
the  nature  of  the  water  is  the  prophecy  and  figure  of  < 

that  which  he  is  about  to  accomplish  in  human  nature.  1 

The  six  urns  set  apart  for  the  water  of  purification  are 
those  six  periods  between  which  we  divide  the  times 
which  have  preceded  the  coming  of  the  Messias — from  > 

Adam  to  Noe,  from  Noe  to  Abraham,  from  Abraham  to  > 

Moses,'  from  Moses  to  David,  from  David  to  the  Cap- 
tivity, from  the  Captivity  to  Jesus  Christ.  These  six 
periods  contained  the  revelation  of  the  future  Messias, 
expressed  by  water,  in  the  language  of  Scripture  ;  and  ( 

without  this  revelation,  necessary  for  the  purification  of 
the  Jews,  the  times  that  went  before  would  remain  bar- 
ren and  void.      Christ,  therefore,  was  contained  in  them, 

) 


The  Life  of  our  Lord  yesus  Christ.  143 

but  concealed,  as  in  a  certain  manner  the  water  con- 
tains the  wine,  without  our  being  able  to  discover  it 
therein.  By  order  of  Jesus  the  six  jars  or  pots  are 
filled  up  to  the  brim,  because  the  prophecies  have  re- 
ceived in  him  their  accomplishment  or  fulfilment.  Thus 
the  changing  of  the  water  into  wine  represents  all  the 
mysteries  of  redemption  :  the  prophecies  have  an- 
nounced them,  Christ  brought  them  to  reality. 

The  Jews  have  had  this  water,  and  it  has  been  to 
them  but  water — the  instrument  of  a  material,  incom- 
plete purification,  or  rather  of  a  vain  ceremony,  like  the 
repeated  ablutions  of  the  Pharisees.  They  washed  their 
hands,  and  did  works  fruitless  and  impure  ;  they  drank, 
and  their  hearts  received  no  warmth,  no  strength,  no 
joy.  The  books  of  the  prophets,  says  St.  Augustine, 
are  insipid  and  wearisome,  if  we  do  not  understand 
them  ;  and  to  understand  them,  we  must  discover  Jesus 
Christ  in  them.  Because  the  Jews  did  not  discover 
Jesus  Christ  in  them,  they  read  them  without  under- 
standing them,  and  interpreted  them  only  to  disfigure 
them  ;  because  Jesus  Christ  appears  to  us  in  them,  they 
inebriate  our  souls  with  joy.  Now  we  comprehend  the 
merciful  heart  of  Mary  when  she  says  to  her  Son  : 
"  They  have  no  wine  " — that  is  to  say,  Lord,  they  stand 
in  need  of  strength  ;  they  stand  in  need  of  happiness,  of 
joy  ;  they  stand  in  need  of  light  ;  have  pity  on  them  ; 
bring  forth  your  light  ;  give  them  the  wine  of  truth. 

And  Jesus,  by  turning  water  into  wine  after  he  heard 
this  prayer,  promises  that  he  is  about  to  replace  the 
literal  sense  by  the  spiritual  sense — the  letter  which 
kills  by  the  spirit  which  quickens,  the  figure  by  the 
reality.  He  will  turn  the  water  into  wine  when  he  shall 
give  his  disciples  the  true  knowledge  of  the  Scriptures, 
inebriating  their  souls  with  the  joy  of  God  by  means 


! 


144  The  Life  of  our  Lord  ye  s  us  Christ. 

that  hitherto  left  them  cold  and  indifferent.  "  Pour  out 
now."  This  miraculous  wine  will  procure  another 
transformation,  another  miracle,  by  which  the  unchaste 
will  be  chaste,  the  proud  will  become  humble  and  meek, 
those  who  tremble  before  the  world  will  be  filled  with 
courage  to  confess  God.  For  a  greater  wonder  will 
happen,  and  the  wine  of  Cana  is  but  the  figure  of  the 
true  beverage.  Remove  this  last  veil  ;  we  see  the 
mystery  of  mysteries  appear — the  Eucharist. 

The  first  act  of  the  public  life  of  Jesus  is,  therefore, 
the  foretelling  of  what  is  to  be  the  object  of  his  mission. 
He  prepares  them  to  believe  in  the  sacrament  which  is 
to  be  the  crowning  and  the  incomprehensible  and  im- 
mortal miracle  of  his  mission.  He  has  deigned,  by  this 
act  at  Cana,  says  a  father  of  the  Church,  to  give  us  a 
token  in  advance  of  the  power  by  which  later  he  would, 
in  the  institution  of  the  Eucharist,  change  the  wine  into 
his  blood,  as,  in  reality,  the  wine  which  is  consecrated 
is  a  real,  true  blood,  just  as  the  water  at  Cana  instantly 
and  really  became  pure  wine. 

It  is  written  of  this  vine  of  the  chalice  "  that  it 
would  bring  forth  virgins,"  because  its  virtue,  remov- 
ing every  earthly  desire,  enkindles  in  souls  a  pure  love 
for  the  Sovereign  Good,  or  creates  an  unbounded  love 
of  God.  Although  the  wine  of  Cana  was  but  a  figure  of 
it,  yet  Jesus  does  not  fail  to  attach  his  grace  to  it. 
Not  only  those  to  whom  he  had  given  the  wine  of  Cana 
believed  in  him,  but,  we  learn  from  tradition,  many  fol- 
lowed him.  The  bridegroom  became  the  apostle  St. 
Simon  ;  the  bride  dwelt  near  the  Holy  Virgin.  The 
presence  of  Jesus  and  Mary  at  their  nuptials  had 
sanctified  the  affection  by  which  they  were  united. 
The  grace  of  virginal  chastity  recompenses  those  pure 
hearts.     They  love  one  another  with  a  most  holy  love, 


The  Life  of  our  Lord  Jesus   Christ.  145 

which,  sacrificing  all  for  God,  receives  from  him  in  re- 

)  turn  a  charm  eternally  lasting  and  holy. 

Such  were  the  works  of  this  great  day  at  Cana — the 
first  day  of  the  manifestation  of  the  Lord.  "  They  re- 
present what  Jesus  Christ  had  come  into  the  world  to 
accomplish:  the  faith  of  the  disciples,  which  is  the  be- 
ginning of  the  Church  ;  the  intercession  of  Mary  ;  the 
communion  of  saints.  The  best  wine,  at  the  end  of  the 
repast,  is  the  perfect  doctrine  for  the  last  age  of  the 
world,  now  inaugurated;  water  turned  into  wine  typi-  . 
fies  the  law  changed  into  the  Gospel  ;  figure  into  reality  ; 
the  letter  into  the  spirit;  fear  into  love."  It  is  thus 
Bossuet  sums  up  the  teaching  of  the  fathers.  By  this 
recital  we  perceive  how  Jesus  remains  concealed,  even 
in  the  Gospel,  to  those  who  pretend  to  find  him  without 
the  lights  of  the  Church;  and  we  can  judge  of  the  re- 
spect the  "historians"  have  for  their  readers  and  for 
themselves  when  they  content  themselves  by  saying, 
apropos  of  Cana,  that  Jesus  liked  private  parties,  and 
that   one   of  his  miracles  was   performed  to  enliven  a 

)  marriage  feast  in  a  small  village.  ( 

From  Cana  Jesus  repairs  to  Capharnaum,  where  he 
preaches  penance.  Capharnaum,  which  signifies  vil- 
lage of  consolation,  village  abounding  in  fruits,  was  an 
opulent  little  town,  well  peopled  and  busy,  situate 
on  the  confines  of  Zabulon  and  Naphtali,  at  a  spot 
where  the  Jordan  flows  into  the  Lake  of  Genesareth. 
This  part  of  Galilee  was  called  Galilee  of  the  Gentiles, 
on  account  of  the  pagans  whom  they  permitted  to 
dwell  among  them,  which   had   led   them  to   fall   into 


them  wicked  and  impure.  Isaias  said  :  "  Land  of  Za- 
bulon and  Naphtali,  which  borders  on  the  sea,  the 
country  beyond  the  Jordan,  the  Galilee  of  the  nations. 


\ 
( 
( 

spiritual  apathy  so  marked   that  the  Jews  considered 


! 


146  The  Life  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ. 

A  people  who  were  seated  in  darkness  have  seen  a  great 
Light  ;  the  Light  has  risen  upon  those  who  were  seated 
in  the  region  of  the  shadow  of  death."  Jesus  was  this 
light,  and  he  comes  into  this  shadow.  He  says  to 
them  :  "  The  time  is  come,  the  kingdom  of  God  is  at 
hand.     Do  penance,  believe  in  the  Gospel." 

A  more  important  work  even  than  this  preaching  is 
about  to  signalize  his  first  sojourn  among  the  Caphar- 
naumites.  His  presence  at  the  marriage  feast  and  the 
first  public  manifestation  of  his  power  gave  honor  and 
dignity  to  the  marriage  state,  the  source  of  the  human 
race;  a  second  miracle  is  about  to  be  performed  to  in- 
contestably  prove  the  establishment  of  the  Church  and 
signify  her  mission. 

Jesus  passes  along  the  border  of  the  sea.  He  sees 
Simon  and  Andrew,  who  were  casting  their  nets,  for 
they  were  fishermen  ;  and  after  the  first  interview,  as 
already  related,  they  return  to  their  business,  by  which 
they  lived.  He  says  to  them  :  "  Follow  me  "  ;  thence 
advancing  a  little,  he  sees  in  a  bark  James  and  John, 
also  fishermen,  working  at  or  mending  their  nets,  and 
he  likewise  calls  them.  At  this  moment  the  peo- 
ple run  to  hear  him  and  press  around  him  ;  he  ascends 
into  one  of  the  barks,  which  was  Simon  Peter's, 
and,  having  besought  Simon  Peter  to  move  out  a  little 
from  the  shore,  he  sits  down  and  teaches.  When  his 
discourse  was  finished,  he  says  to  Simon  Peter:  "  Con- 
duct your  vessel  out  into  deep  water,  and  cast  the  net." 
"  Master,"  replies  Simon,  "  we  have  been  laboring  all 
\  night  and  caught  nothing  ;  but  at  your  word  I  will  throw 

)  out  the  net."     And  at  this  haul  they  take  in   so   many 

fishes  that  the   net  threatens   to    break.      They  make 
signs  to  their  companions  in  another  boat  to  come  and 
)  aid  them.     The  two  boats  were  so  full  that   little  more 


The  Life  of  oar  Lord  jfcsus  Christ. 


*47 


might  have  sunk  them  to  the  bottom.  Then  Simon 
Peter,  casting  himself  at  the  feet  of  Jesus,  says  to  him  : 
"  Lord,  depart  from  me,  for  I  am  a  sinner."  He  and 
his  companions  were  frightened  at  this  miracle.  Jesus 
says  to  Simon  :  "  Fear  not  ;  henceforth  you  will  be- 
come fishers  of  men."  And  forthwith,  having  brought 
the  barks  ashore,  they  quit  all  and  follow  him. 

The  Church  is  established  and  foretold. 

Those  first  chosen  apostles  are  laboring  men,  hard- 
working men,  living  by  the  labor  of  their  hands,  and 
not  by  the  fruits  of  iniquity  ;  this  is  what  renders  them 
worthy  of  their  calling.  They  are  simple  and  illiterate. 
Knowledge  will  be  given  them  later  on  ;  but  at  first 
it  is  necessary  the  faith  of  the  believers  should  be  the 
effect  of  the  divine  power,  and  not  of  human  eloquence. 
They  are  called  :  forthwith  they  obey  ;  the  children  of 
Zebedee  forsake  their  father — nothing  must  hinder 
them  from  following  Christ.  There  are  two  ships  : 
that  wherein  Jesus  ascends  to  teach  is  Peter's;  there 
words  are  spoken  which  beget  faith.  Out  of  this  bark 
Jesus  teaches  the  vast  multitudes,  and  out  of  this  bark 
he  will  instruct  nations.  He  begs  Peter  to  haul  out  a 
little  from  the  shore  ;  he  must  preach  to  the  people  in 
a  measured  way,  not  attaching  them  to  the  things  of 
the  earth,  nor  yet  carrying  them  too  far  into  the  re- 
gions of  mystery  ;  he  must  condescend  to  the  infirmity 
of  all  to  guide  mankind,  floating,  amid  the  changeful  and 
bitter  things  of  this  life,  towards  a  haven  of  peace. 

Then  Jesus  says  :  "  In  deep  water."  That  was  said 
to  Peter  ;  for  he  must  visit  all  shores,  and  he  has  no- 
thing to  fear,  either  from  the  depth  of  controversies 
or  from  the  fury  of  the  storms.  The  bark  of  Peter  is 
figured  in  the  Old  Testament  by  the  ark  of  Noe,  which 
ascends  higher  in  proportion  as  the  waters  are  increased 


The  Life  of  our  Lord  yest/s  Christ. 

and  are  shaken  by  the  storms  :  "  Multiplicatae 
sunt  aquse,  et  elevaverunt  arcam  in  sublime."  "Cast 
out  your  nets  in  deep  waters  " — in  the  middle  of  the 
ocean.  Peter  is  fatigued,  laboring  the  whole  night,  and 
has  caught  nothing;  so  the  prophets  have  labored  in 
the  obscurity  of  the  Old  Law.  But  Peter  does  not  re- 
fuse to  labor;  at  the  word  of  the  Master  he  throws  in 
the  deep  the  net  of  the  Gospel— the  ample  and  pliable 
net-work  formed  by  light  and  charity,  which  hurts  not 
those  whom  it  catches,  and  which,  from  the  deep 
wherein  they  were  struggling,  fetches  them  up  toward 
heaven.  ? 

The  great  day  of  grace  is  at  hand  ;  the  net  is  replete 
to  bursting  ;  so  those  who,  on  the  word  of  the  Master, 
will  cast  out  the  net  of  doctrine,  will  gather  together 
the  multitude  of  nations.  [ 

Peter  is  humbly  frightened  at  the  miracle,  and   at-  > 

tributes  nothing  of  it  to  himself.  He  only  considers 
that  he  is  a  weak,  sinful  man.  Jesus  gives  him  cour- 
age :  "  Fear  not  ;  henceforth  you  will  be  the  fisher 
of  men."  This  word  is  also  addressed  to  others,  but 
especially  to  Peter;  it  is  he  who  superintends  and 
directs  the  fishing,  who  throws  out  into  the  deep  the 
great  net,  who  calls  out  to  the  others  to  come  and  help 
him.  "  You  will  be  the  fisher  of  men."  Other  pro- 
mises as  magnificent  will  be  made  to  him,  and  they 
will  be  as  magnificently  accomplished.  St.  Ambrose 
translates:  "  You  will  bring  men  to  life." 

And  in  guiding  their  barks  to  dry  land  the  fisher- 
men quit  all  to  follow  Jesus — figure  of  the  end  of  those 
ages  wherein  those  attached  to  Jesus  will  quit  for  ever 
the  sea  of  this  world. 

A  numerous  people  have  seen  and  daily  see  those 
realities  and  receive  those  symbols  and  those  promises. 


"1 


The  Life  of  our  Lord  yesus  Christ. 


149 


There  are  on  the  lake  hundreds  of  fishing  barks  con 
stantly  and  actively  occupied.  The  Gospel  fishing  is 
carried  on  in  the  full  light  of  day.  It  has  been  re- 
marked that  the  Gospel  land,  in  its  inhabitants  and  the 
configuration  of  its  soil,  was  quite  typical.  Near  to  the 
Dead  Sea  the  Jordan  flows  on  in  a  lingering,  serpentine 
way,  as  if  it  feared  the  bed  of  the  sulphurous  lake. 
The  instinct  of  the  fish  warn  them  to  turn  back,  be- 
cause those  the  current  has  carried  into  the  deep  water 
instantly  die.  This  is  the  reason  why  this  place  was 
frequented  by  fishermen.  Simon,  Andrew,  John,  and 
his  brother  went  there  to  cast  their  nets — a  figure  of 
what  will  one  day  happen  when  they  will  become  fishers 
of  men  :  at  the  extremity  of  the  stream  of  life  they 
will  catch  for  the  kingdom  of  God  those  whom  the 
proximity  of  that  frightful  gulf  will  cause  to  tremble 
and  recoil.  Jeremias  has  said  :  "A  day  will  come  when 
I  will  send  a  number  of  fishermen,  and  they  shall  catch 
men." 

By  the  chariot  of  those  fishermen,  says  St.  Jerome, 
we  are  caught  up  towards  the  heavens  like  Eliseus. 
They  are  the  four  angels  of  the  first  church  erected, 
the  four  Hebrew  letters  of  the  divine  name.  Their 
example  urges  us  to  obey  the  call  of  God,  to  forget  the 
vicious  throng,  to  quit  the  bark  of  our  former  life  and 
the  delights  of  the  paternal  mansion — this  tissue  of 
worldly  solicitudes,  this  spider's  web  wherein,  if  caught, 
we,  like  so  many  gnats,  will  hang  without  support. 


CHAPTER    IL 


NICODEMUS— THE   SAMARITAN   WOMAN. 


AFTER   some  days  passed    at   Capharnaum  Jesus 
returns  to  Jerusalem.     There  he  performs  other 
miracles  and  celebrates  the  Pasch. 

The  custom  and  connivance  of  the  priests  allowed 
the  merchants  to  establish  themselves  under  the 
porticos  of  the  Temple.  He  drives  them  thence  for 
the  first  time,  saying  :  "  You  make  of  my  Father's 
house  a  den  of  thieves."  Later  they  remember  what 
is  written  :  "  The  zeal  of  your  house  has  eaten  me  up." 
The  merchants  do  not  resist  him,  although  his  hand 
was  armed  only  with  a  whip  of  small  cords  ;  and  they 
did  not  invoke  the  aid  of  the  priests,  who  tolerated 
them.  Doubtless  they  were  intimidated  by  the  aw- 
ful majesty  of  his  countenance.  However,  some 
among  the  doctors  demanded  of  him  by  what  right 
he  acted  in  such  manner,  asking  him  to  perform  a 
miracle  to  prove  his  mission.  He  replied  to  them  : 
"  Destroy  this  temple,  and  within  three  days  I  will 
build  it  up  again."  They  understand  him  to  speak  of 
the  Temple  out  of  which  he  chased  the  buyers  and 
sellers — that  Temple  whose  ruin  he  would  very  soon 
predict,  and  which  never  should  be  rebuilt  ;  but  he 
spoke    to  them  of  the    temple   of    his  body,  wherein 

dwelt  the  fulness  of  the  Divinity,  and  of  the  miracle  of 

150 


Tlie  Life  of  cur  Lord  jïsus   Christ.  151 

his  resurrection  three  days  after  they  should  have  put 
him  to  death.  For  the  Mcssias  was  the  living  Temple 
of  God  ;  and  the  Jews  themselves  declare  it.  In  the 
course  of  time  many  believed  that  the  Messias  was 
born  at  the  time  the  Romans  destroyed  the  Temple. 
According  to  St.  Mark,  Jesus  pronounced  those  words 
the  day  on  which  each  one  purchased  the  paschal 
lamb,  and,  according  to  the  computation  of  some  his- 
torians, on  the  same  day  on  which  (three  years  after) 
he  arose  from  the  dead. 

His  replies  are  quasi  enigmatical,  and  he  ordinarily 
refuses  an  answer  when  interrogated  by  unbelief,  vain 
curiosity,  or  pride.  He  spoke  clearly  to  the  meek  and 
docile  of  heart.  He  granted  them  the  favors  they  de- 
manded. Whatever  might  be  the  expression  that 
issued  from  the  lips,  he  seizes  on  their  thought  ;  those 
even  who  are  silent  hear  him  answering  their  very 
thoughts.  He  knows  all  men  thoroughly.  He  merci- 
fully regulates  his  discourses  to  suit  their  intelligence 
and  their  faith,  giving  them  only  what  they  can  actu- 
ally bear.  ( 

Many  came  to  him  who  were  merely  surprised  at 
his  miracles.  Some  he  retained,  and  others  he  let  go, 
He  called  some  who  did  not  present  themselves.  Levi 
the  publican  was  seated  at  his  bureau  of  finance. 
Jesus  passes  and  calls  him  :  "  Follow  me."  The 
publican  rises  and  forthwith  follows  him  ;  leaves  his 
bureau,  as  Peter  and  John  had  left  their  nets,  and  be- 
comes Matthew  the  Apostle.  Some  time  after,  a  doc- 
tor of  the  law  presents  himself  to  him,  and  says  :  M  Mas- 
ter, I  will  follow  you  wherever  you  go."  Jesus  saw 
the  heart  of  this  savant  ;  he  replies  to  him  :  "  The 
foxes  have  their  dens,  and  the  birds  their  nests,  but 
the  Son  of  Man  has  nowhere  to  lav  his  head."     The 


The  Life  of  our  Lord  ffesus  Christ. 

savant  withdraws  himself  from  Christ's  presence.  He 
only  wishes  to  advance  in  knowledge  ;  the  labor  of 
the  Gospel,  rough  and  disinterested  and  unselfish,  did 
not  please  him — type  of  those  thieves  who  harass  the 
Church  in  order  to  steal  from  her  whatever  knowledge 
they  can  use  to  their  own  profit.  Another— who  was, 
on  the  other  hand,  called — asks  a  delay  till  he  buries 
his  father.  Jesus  answers  him:  "Let  the  dead  bury 
the  dead."  Come  to  the  work  of  the  living  ;  learn 
that  the  first  duty  toward  men  is  to  preach  the  Gospel, 
and  that  your  Father  himself  needs  that  you  forsake 
all  to  obey  the  voice  of  God — an  everlasting  answer 
to  the  objections  of  false  charity.  Jesus  does  not  im- 
pose a  weight  that  he  refuses  to  take  upon  himself. 
He  does  not  wait  to  close  the  eyes  of  his  mother. 

At  Jerusalem,  among  those  who  first  approached 
him,  there  was  a  senator  named  Nicodemus.  He 
Came  in  the  night,  with  an  upright  but  timorous  heart. 
He  was  afraid  of  the  Jews,  dreading,  perhaps,  at  the 
same  time  their  wrath,  already  manifested,  and  their 
railleries.  We  find  him  again,  more  courageous  at 
Calvary.  Jesus  declares  to  him  unreservedly  his  di- 
vinity. In  the  discourse  which  he  holds  with  him  he 
reveals  to  him  the  whole  plan  of  Christianity.  In  it 
he  points  out  his  death  on  the  cross,  and  pronounces 
these  words,  which  are  the  adorable  reason  of  the  In- 
carnation :  "  God  so  loved  the  world  as  to  give  his 
only  Son  for  it."  Then  he  unveils  the  causes  of  in- 
credulity: "The  Light  came  into  the  world,  and  men 
rather  prefer  darkness,  because  their  works  are  wicked. 
For  whoever  does  evil  hates  the  light  ;  but  he  who 
comes  to  the  light  is  led  by  the  truth."  This  is  he 
who  declares  himself  judge  on  the  last  day. 

Having  thus  received  with  kindness  the  timid  Jew, 


The  Life  of  our  Lord  yesus  Christ.  153 


he  goes  himself  to  win  the  Samaritan  woman  to  divine 


truth. 

The  Samaritans  were  the  remnant  of  colonies,  form- 
ed of  divers  peoples,  which  the  Assyrians  had  estab- 
lished. They  pretended  that  they  sprang  from  the  race 
of  Abraham,  and  they  received  the  books  of  Moses, 
but  mixed  up  with  them  much  of  their  ancient  idolatry. 
The  Jews  treated  them  as  strangers,  and  a  reciprocal 
hatred  divided  them.  The  synagogue  forbade  all  rela- 
tions with  these  schismatics,  save  to  buy  and.  sell.  Jesus 

sjoes  towards  them  ;  he  rises  above  national  and  politi- 
sa r  1 

cal  enmities,  as  he  will  shortly  put  himself  above  the 
traditions  and  prescriptions  of  the  Pharisees  regarding 
the  Sabbath.  We  behold  here  his  first  public  mission 
to  those  outside  the  Jewish  pale. 

Travelling,  then,  through  Samaria  to  get  back  again 
into  Galilee,  and  finding  himself  at  the  gates  of  a  city 
called  Sichem,  Jesus  rests  himself,  feeling  the  fatigue 
of  the  journey.  The  road,  says  St.  Augustine,  was  the 
flesh  he  had  taken  to  arrive  at  humanity  ;  and  the  fa- 
tigue he  was  pleased  to  endure  makes  us  comprehend 
the  labor  of  his  apostolate.  His  disciples  enter  the  vil- 
lage to  purchase  something  to  cat  ;  for  he  so  disdains 
the  comforts  of  life  as  ordinarily  to  carry  with  him  no 
provision.  Once  he  spoke  of  a  loaf  they  had  for  the 
whole  company,  and  which  the  apostles  forgot. 

But  Sichem  was  not  a  place  without  a  memory. 
Abraham,  returning  from  Mesopotamia,  had  erected  an 
altar  there  ;  and  God  made  known  to  him  that  this 
place  belonged  to  him.  It  was  here  that  Simon  and 
Levi,  sons  of  Jacob,  had  killed  a  great  number  of  the 
Amorrhites  to  avenge  the  outrage  done  to  their  sister 
Dinah.  Jacob,  having  purchased  here  a  territory  for  a 
flock  of  an  hundred  sheep,  had  given  it  as  an   inheri- 


The  Life  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ. 

tance  to  Joseph,  and  he  had  dug  a  well  that  is  yet  called 
Jacob's  well.  Thus,  on  this  strange  soil,  Jesus,  Son  of 
God  and  Son  of  the  patriarchs,  was  doubly  at  home. 
He  comes  there  to  reveal  the  true  God,  to  bring  pardon 
to  the  abode  of  vengeance,  to  open  up  the  fountain  of 
the  true  living  waters  which  gush  forth  even  to  eternal 
life. 

Whilst  Jesus,  remaining  alone,  rested  himself,  seated 
on  the  brim  of  Jacob's  well,  a  woman  comes  from 
Sichem  to  draw  some  water.  She  was  a  woman  of  bad 
morals  and  of  bad  repute.  She  represents  the  Church 
not  yet  purified,  but  about  to  be  so.  The  woman 
comes  from  among  strangers  :  the  Church  will  be  es- 
tablished among  the  nations.  It  is  said  that  Jesus 
stopped  here  at  the  sixth  hour,  at  mid-day.  The  ma- 
terial sun,  arrived  at  his  highest  point,  begins  to  de- 
crease ;  the  Sun  prophesied  by  Zacharias,  the  true 
Orient,  rises  to  enlighten  those  who  are  seated  in  the 
shadow  of  death,  and  he  comes  to  direct  their  feet  in 
the  way  of  peace.  The  sixth  hour  is  yet  to  be  the 
hour  of  sacrifice,  when,  bleeding  and  bruised,  the  Sa- 
viour will  rest  himself  from  his  fatigues  by  lying  down 
on  the  bed  of  the  cross,  and  then  from  those  bleeding 
wounds  of  his  will  gush  out  the  sources  of  salvation. 

Jesus  says  to  the  Samaritan,  "  Give  me  to  drink." 
On  Calvary  he-will  say,  "  I  thirst,"  It  is  the  same  thirst 
he  expresses  here  ;  she  replies  in  the  language  of  rail- 
lery, common  to  her  class  :  "  How  !  you,  a  Jew,  ask  of 
me  a  drink — I  being  a  Samaritan  ?  "  The  Jews,  be  it  re- 
membered, even  refused  to  make  use  of  the  vessels  of  the 
Samaritans.  Jesus  gently  reprimands  her:  "  If  you  knew 
what  the  gift  of  God  is,  and  him  who  is  speaking  to 
you,  asking  you  to  give  water  to  drink,  you  yourself 
would  be  the  first,  or  should  be   to  ask  a  drink  of  water 


The  Life  of  our  Lord  yes  us   Cluisi. 


J55 


from  him,  and  he  would  have  given  you  to  drink  of  the 
living  water." 

The  Samaritan,  yet  scoffing,  but  astonished  and  more 
respectful,  says  to  him  :  "  Sir,  you  have  not  where- 
with to  draw,  and  the  well  is  deep.  Whence  have  you 
living  water?  Are  you  greater  than  our  father  Jacob» 
who  has  given  us  this  well  ?  "  She  knows  no  other 
water  than  that  which  quenches  the  carnal  thirst,  and, 
though  impressed  with  respect,  she  treats  lightly  the 
stranger  who  asks  her  to  give  him  a  little  water,  whilst 
she  holds  possession  of  the  means  of  drawing  it.  Thus 
it  is  that  the  pride  of  the  rationalists  will  dispute  for  a 
long  while. 

Jesus  answers  her:  "Whoever  will  drink  of  this 
water  will  thirst  again;  but  he  who  will  drink  of  the 
water  that  I  will  give  will  never  thirst,  because  the 
water  I  will  give  will  become  a  fountain  that  will  spring 
up  to  eternal  life."  The  water  of  the  well  is  the  sen- 
sual pleasures  which  dwell  in  dark  recesses  of  the 
human  heart.  He  who  partakes  of  the  pleasures  of 
this  world,  he  who  drinks  of  this  water,  Avili  thirst  again. 
The  living  water  of  Jesus  is  the  Holy  Ghost,  who  will 
satiate  all  the  desires  of  the  soul,  and  raise  up  man  to 
eternal  life,  being  the  principle  of  resurrection.  He 
who  has  this  fountain  within  him  will  never  thirst. 

The  Samaritan  does  not  yet  comprehend  Christ's 
meaning.  Always  preoccupied  with  carnal  thirst,  but 
more  and  more  respectful,  she  says  to  Jesus  :  "  Sir,  give 
me  to  drink  of  this  water,  so  that  I  may  thirst  no  more, 
and  that  I  may  come  no  more  here  to  draw  water." 
She  inhabits  the  country  where  Eliseus,  the  great  pro- 
phet, had,  among  other  prodigies,  lived  forty  days  with- 
out drinking  and  without  eating.  Remembering  his 
history,  she  believes  that  he  who  speaks  to  her  can  give 


156  The  Life  of  our  Lord  yesus   Christ. 

her  the  true  secret  of  Eliseus.  Jesus  wishes  to  confer 
on  her  a  gift  far  more  precious.  He  says  to  her  :  "  Go, 
call  your  husband,  and  return." 

For  the  first  time,  perhaps,  in  her  whole  life,  as  we 
can  conjecture  it  from  what  is  about  to  be  revealed,  this 
woman  at  the  same  time  fears  to  lie  and  to  be  sincere. 
She  says  :  "  I  have  no  husband."  Jesus  replies  :  "  You 
have  reason  to  say,  I  have  no  husband,  for  you  have 
had  five  ;  and  he  with  whom  you  are  now  living  is  not 
your  husband."  Repudiated  successively  by  five  hus- 
bands, this  sinful  woman  lives  in  sinful  connection  with 
an  adulterer.  In  a  mystical  sense,  a  father  of  the 
Church  sees  here  the  five  senses,  the  domination  of  the 
flesh  which  presses  on  all  men,  before  they  can  make 
use  of  their  reason.  Error  follows  the  passions  of  the 
senses;  it  has  no  husband,  legitimate  guide,  but  an 
adulterous  lover.  Remove  your  error;  put  away  that 
adulterer  who  corrupts  you  ;  appeal  to  your  reason  to 
comprehend  the  truth. 

The  Samaritan  woman  makes  this  noble  effort.  She 
bows  down  before  the  light  that  appears  to  her,  and 
acknowledges  her  sins  and  her  shame.  "  Lord,  I  see 
well  you  are  a  prophet."  And  forthwith,  leaving  off 
every  question  of  temporal  interest,  she  seeks  after 
more  light  by  proposing  clearly  the  point   of  doctrine 

1  that  divides  the  Samaritans    and    the    Jews.       In  the 

I  midst    of    all    her    crimes,  this  woman    had    not    dis- 

dained to  meditate  at  times  on  the  importance  of 
salvation  ;  the  Son  of  God  knew  this.  Then  she  says 
to  him  :  "  Our  fathers  have  adored  on  this  mountain, 
and  you  say  (you,  the  Jews)  that  Jerusalem  is  the  place 

)  where  we  must  adore." 

Jesus,  without   answering  her  directly  on  this  point, 

5  which   thenceforth   would   have    but   little   importance 


The  Life  of  our  Lord  J^sus  Christ.  157 

either  for  the  Samaritans  or  the  Jews,  raises  her  up 
higher  than  she  thought  to  ascend.  "  Woman,"  says 
he  to  her,  "  believe  me,  the  time  is  at  hand  when  you 
will  no  longer  adore  the  Father  on  this  mountain  nor 
in  Jerusalem  (for  the  sacrifices  of  the  Samaritans,  as 
those  of  the  Jews,  would  be  abolished).  You  adore 
what  you  do  not  know,  and  we  adore  what  we  know, 
because  salvation  comes  from  the  Jews.     But  the  hour 


is  coming,  and  it  is  at  hand,  when  the  true  adorers  will 
adore  the  Father  in  spirit  and  in  truth  ;  for  those  are 
the  adorers  whom  the  Father  desires.  God  is  a  spirit, 
and  those  who  adore  him  must  adore  him  in  spirit  and 
)  in  truth." 

This  parable  at  once  upsets  the  symbols  of  the  Jews 
and  the  idols  of  the  Samaritans.  Both  neglect  the 
soul,  seeking  by  every  means  to  purify  the  body. 
Jesus  Christ  declares  that  God,  who  is  a  spirit,  is  honor- 
ed by  the  purity  of  what  there  is  incorporeal  in  us,  the 
purity  of  the  understanding  which  he  calls  the  spirit. 
The  Church  adores  in  spirit,  because  she  offers  up  a 
spiritual  victim  ;  she  adores  in  truth,  because  her  sacri- 
fice is  not  purely  figurative,  but  gives  the  reality  of  the 
sacrifices  of  the  ancient  law  and  of  what  its  signs  re- 
present. 

The  Samaritan  says  to  Jesus:  "I  know  that  the 
Messias,  whom  they  call  Christ,  must  come.  When  he 
does  come,  he  will  instruct  us  in  all  things."  It  needs 
but  the  five  books  of  Moses  for  the  Samaritan  to  ex- 
pect the  Messias,  so  often  is  his  advent  predicted 
therein,  and  so  much  is  Christ  the  object  of  the 
whole  ancient  Testament.  Jesus  replies:  "  This  Mes- 
sias whom  you  expect  is  now  speaking  to  you  :  it  is 
myself."  The  Son  of  God  reveals  himself  to  the  simple 
heart  that  confesses  its  misery  to  him.     It  was  only  in 

;  ; 

»  t 

)  ( 
) 


The  Life  of  our  Lord  yesus  Christ. 

the  presence  of  the  cross  the  Jews  could  obtain  this 
clear  expression  ;  for  they  only  asked  him  if  he  was  the 
promised  Messias  to  deny,  to  insult  him. 

At  this  moment  the   disciples  return.      They  were  [ 

astonished  to  behold  their  Master  holding  conversation 
with  this  strange  woman  ;  for  it  was,  to  their  eyes,   a  i 

sort  of  a  transgression  of  the  law,  and  doubtless,  also,  a  ) 

condescension  quite  contrary  to  Jewish  haughtiness. 
Nevertheless,  they  do  not  question  him.  They  had 
learned,  says  a  father,  to  observe  their  rank  of  disciples  ; 
they  respected  and  feared  him.  The  Samaritan,  leav- 
ing the  vessel  she  carried  to  the  well,  returns  to  the 
city,  and  publishes  what  she  had  seen.  She  said  to  all 
she  met  with  :  "  Come  and  see  a  man  that  has  told  me 
all  that  I  have  ever  done.  Might  he  not  be  the  Christ  ?  " 
An  admirable  example  of  God's  workings  in  our  hearts  ! 
The  conversion  of  this  sinful  woman  is,  so  to  speak, 
instantaneous,  and  yet  all  the  degrees  of  it  are  perfectly 
marked.  She  passes  from  haughty,  mocking  indiffer- 
ence to  respect  ;  from  respect  to  the  desire  of  riches 
which  are  promised  her,  and  of  which  she  is  ignorant; 
she  acknowledges  Jesus  to  be  a  prophet,  and  at  the 
same  time  she  avows  that  she  has  prevaricated  ;  she 
is  instructed,  and  she  is  docile  ;  as  soon  as  she  possesses 
the  divine  light  she  exerts  herself  to  spread  it  abroad. 
Leaving  there  her  pitcher,  as  the  fishermen  leave  their 
nets,  she  acts  the  part  of  evangelist  by  publishing,  to 
the  honor  of  Him  who  had  enlightened  her,  the  words 
which  have  humbled  her.  She  blushes  not  to  reveal 
this  truth  ;  the  soul,  once  illumined  by  the  divine  fire, 
regards  not  the  things  of  the  earth,  neither  glory  nor 
honor.  She  knows,  says  St.  Chrysostom,  only  the  flame 
of  holy  love  that  vivifies  her.  She  leaves  her  urn  or 
pitcher,  says  St.  Augustine:  the  urn  is  the  love  of  the 


The  Life  of  our  Lo?ui  jfesus  Christ.  i  59 

world,  the  cupidity  by  which  men  seek  to  draw  pleasure 

from  the  dark  depths  of  earthly  life,  of  which  the  well  ( 

is  an  image.  r 

Whilst  the  Samaritan  woman  was  applying  herself  to  ( 

make  known  the  gift  of  God,  the  disciples  press  Jesus 
to  eat.     The  Lord  says  to  them  :   "  I   have  other  food  ( 

to  take  "  ;  and  they  thought  somebody  had  brought 
him  something  to  eat.  Thus  Jesus  does  not  refuse  to 
receive  nourishment  from  the  hands  of  strangers,  since 
he  possessed  nothing,  so  that  those  who  assisted  him 
might  be  rewarded  for  it,  and  also  that  his  disciples 
might  learn  to  honor  poverty.  But  he  carries  their 
thoughts  far  from  this.  "  My  nourishment,"  says  he, 
"  is  to  accomplish  the  will  of  Him  who  sent  me,  and  to 
perfect  his  work."  ( 

To  perfect  a  work  is  to  labor  to  realize  the  design  of 
him  who  has  conceived  it  and  who  has  commanded  it. 
If  the  work  of  God  is  perfected  by  Christ,  it  therefore 
was  not  perfected  before  him.  But  what  can  there  be 
wanting  to  perfect  the  work  of  God  ?  Origen  replies  : 
The  perfection  of  the  reasonable  creature  is  the  perfec- 
tion of  all  nature  ;  it  is  for  the  perfection  of  this  nature, 
hitherto  incomplete,  that  the  Word  was  made  flesh. 
Man  was  perfect  in  a  certain  degree  ;  but  transgression  [ 

rendered  him  imperfect.  The  Saviour  was  sent  clown, 
firstly,  to  accomplish  the  will  of  Him  who  had  sent  him  ;  | 

secondly,  to  perfect  the  work  of  God,  not  only  by 
restoring  man  to  his  original  condition,  but  by  elevating 
him  to  his  perfection,  which  is  to  nourish  himself  with 
the  knowledge  of  God.  The  Son  of  God  accomplishes 
and  perfects  in  two  ways  the  work  of  the  Father — in 
man,  when  he  makes  us  behold  in  his  person  human 
nature,  without  sin,  without  corruption,  worthy  of  the 
divine  love  ;  in  the  law,  for  Christ  is  the  end  of  the  law  : 


L 


i6o  The  Life  of  our  Lord  yesus  Christ. 

he  conducts  to  maturity  all  it  contains,  and  he  elevates 
the  world  from  carnal  to  spiritual  worship. 

This  was  the  lesson  Jesus  Christ  taught  his  disciples, 
by  telling  them  that  they  should  reap  what  others  had 
sown,  and  that  this  harvest,  which  would  be  fruitful  to 
eternal  life,  would  rejoice  those  who  worked  first — that 
is  to  say,  the  prophets.  It  was  also  to  indicate  how 
the  accomplishment  of  the  law  and  the  work  of  salva- 
tion is  but  one  work  of  God,  undertaken  from  the  begin- 
ning. They  did  not  yet  understand  him,  but  they 
remembered.  They  also  thought  reapers  must  become 
sowers;  for  the  missionary  of  Christ  reaps  and  sows  at  the 
same  time.  He  performs  the  double  labor  of  prophet 
and  apostle.  Because  the  Church  is  one  in  duration 
of  time,  differently  to  what  passes  in  the  world,  the 
joy  of  him  who  harvests  with  full  hands  is  the  recom- 
pense and  joy  of  him  who  has  sown  in  sorrowfulness 
and  barrenness,  and  who  has  not  even  seen  the  furrow 
become  green. 

The  Samaritan  had  said  to  her  fellow-citizens  : 
"  Come  and  see.  May  not  this  be  the  Christ  ?"  A 
great  number  received  this  word.  Departing  from  the 
city,  they  flock  around  Jesus  ;  they  implore  him  to  re- 
main with  them.  He  stays  with  them  two  days;  and 
after  having  heard  him  speak,  a  great  many  more  of 
them  believed  in  him.  They  say  to  this  woman  : 
"  We  believe  no  longer  on  your  testimony  ;  we  have 
heard  him  ourselves,  and  we  know  truly  he  is  the 
Saviour  of  the  world."  They  affirm  what  was  pre- 
sented to  them  but  as  doubtful.  However,  they  had 
seen  no  miracles;  the  word  alone  converted  them.  As 
they  depart  from  the  city  to  hear  the  word,  so  in  re- 
ceiving this  sincere  word  they  renounce  every  other 
doctrine.     The  Evangelist,  according  to  the  saying  of 


The  Life  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ.  1 6 1 

!  i 

Origen,  takes  care  to  say  that  they  implored  him  not 
to  enter  the  city,  but  "  to  dwell  among  them."  Foi 
Jesus  dwells  among  those  who  importune  him  by 
prayer;  especially  when,  departing  from  their  city, 
denying  themselves,  they  come  to  him. 

The  episode  of  the  Samaritan  woman  signalizes  the 
advent  and  character  of  definite  religion,  and  clearly 
points  out  to  us  the  form  and  miracle  of  the  preaching 
of  Jesus.  The  whole  possesses  the  simplicity  of  the 
most  ordinary  things  of  life,  and  yet  all  is  divine  ;  it 
seems  that  all  might  be  by  pure  chance,  and  the  more 
we  regard  it,  the  more  we  find  eternal  depths  in  the 
preparation,  in  the  fact  and  the  consequences,  which 
last  for  ever  and  will  be  eternal. 

Let  us  remark  that  this  mission  to  Samaria  was  an  > 

act  that  could  greatly  compromise  Jesus  among  the 
Jews,  if  he  had,  as  they  did  say,  sought  popularity. 
The  aversion  for  the  Samaritans  was  universal,  and 
rendered    public    opinion   even   more   formidable  than 

\  legal  prohibitions.     This  city  of  Sichem,  where  he  dares 

to  sojourn,  the  Jews  called  Sichar,  which  means  in- 
ebriation, drunkenness.  He  heeds  not  their  prejudices. 
His  immense  compassion  for  human  miseries  never 
flattered  error — a  twofold  mark  of  his  divinity:  that 
he  did  it  not,  and  that  he  was  incapable  of  doing  it.'::' 

) 

*  The  Roman  martyrology  and  the  Greek  mcnology  make  mention, 
on  the  20th  of  March,  of  the  Samaritan  woman,  and  call  her  Photina. 
She  attaches  herself  to  our  divine  Lord.  Tradition  says  she  was  at 
Calvary  and  at  the  Last  Supper.  St.  Photina  was  exiled  into  Africa, 
where  she  received  the  crown  of  martyrdom  at  Carthage,  in  the  year 
Co  of  the  Redemption,  at  the  same  time  as  her  two  sons,  Joseph  and 
Victor,  and  her  five  sisters,  whom  she  had  converted.  Their  relics 
are  at  Rome,  in  the  basilica  of  St.  Paul  {Cornelius  à  Lapidi). 


ÉSIi 

^ 

fflwff*y~i5i 

s8§j#a 

S^$^r 

aE^i^l 

siït 

^^ 

3b 

P2§1 

§§§ 

CHAPTER  III. 


THE   SICK   HEALED— THE   TEMPEST  CALMED- 
VANQUISHED — THE   PHARISEES. 


-DEMONS 


JT  was  almost  as  a  fugitive  that  Jesus  Christ  travelled 
through  the  territory  of  Samaria.  Herod  Anti- 
pas,  King  of  Judea,  had  at  that  time  arrested  John  the 
Baptist.  By  the  power  of  his  preaching  he  continues 
to  draw  to  him  vast  multitudes.  The  Precursor  irri- 
tates the  Pharisees.  Herod  respects  him,  and  would 
have  willingly  let  him  preach  penance  ;  but  John  re- 
proaches him  for  his  public  violation  of  God's  law. 
This  tyrant  had  espoused  Herodias,  his  sister-in-law. 
The  man  of  God  says  to  him  :  "  It  is  not  lawful  for 
you  to  take  to  wife  your  brother's  wife."  Non  licet  ! 
John  was  the  first  who  had  the  honor  and  glory  of 
pronouncing  this  salutary  word,  which  the  Church  has 
been  obliged  so  often  to  repeat  almost  daily,  like  him, 
at  the  price  of  her  civil  liberty  and  her  blood.  Princes 
demand  of  the  Church  to  teach  obedience  to  the  civil 
laws  ;  but  when  she  contests  the  right  they  have  to 
infringe  on  those  laws,  then  they  accuse  her  of  sedition 
and  cast  her  into  irons,  or  they  put  her  in  chains.  The 
Gospel  is  a  complete  picture  of  all  human  history. 

In  the  eyes  of  the  Pharisees  Jesus  was  already  guilty 
of  the  crimes  of  John  the  Baptist.  Those  hypocrites 
were  not  ignorant  of  what  the  voice  in  the  desert  said 

163 


//eves  !  The  divine  Word  performed  a  double  miracle, 
accompanied  by  a  twofold  grace  :  the  body  of  the  son 
\  is  healed,  and  the  heart  of  the  father  is  changed — the 

one  receives  health,  the  other  faith. 

The  same  sovereign  authority  appears  in  all  the  works 
of  Jesus.  By  a  word  he  cures  the  blind,  the  deaf,  the 
lame  ;  he  banishes  demons  from  the  bodies  of  the  pos- 
sessed. Sometimes,  however,  he  uses  certain  signs  or 
marks  :  he  touches  the  sick  or  imposes  hands  on  them. 
He  wishes  to  act  thus  either  to  give  a  particular  in- 
struction, or,  as  we  will  see  elsewhere,  to  make  mani- 
fest, as  St.  Augustine  says,  that  his  body  is  the  organ 
of  the  Divinity. 

At  Capharnaum,  where  he  remains  in  the  poor  cot- 


The  Life  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ.  163 

( 

of  him,  and  they  were  impatient  to  make  him  an  object 
of  equal  suspicion.  His  hour  was  not  yet  come  ;  he 
seeks  shelter  from  their  wrath — giving  an  example,  to 
the  Church  to  fly  from  danger  when  the  occasion  re 
quires  it.  She  often  has  had  and  will  have  need  of  this 
example. 

Arrived  at  Galilee,  he  continues  to  teach  and  work 
miracles.  "They  were  all  astonished  at  his  doctrine  ; 
because  he  taught  as  a  man  who  had  authority,  and  not 
as  the  Scribes  do."  So  authority  is  the  character  of 
his  miracles.  At  Cana  an  officer  approaches  him,  beg- 
ging of  him  to  heal  his  son,  who  was  dying  at  Caphar- 
naum. Jesus,  knowing  his  faith,  though  it  was  yet  im- 
perfect, says  to  him  :  "  If  you  people  do  not  see  mira- 
cles and  great  wonders,  you  do  not  believe."  The 
officer,  engrossed  with  the  danger  of  his  son,  does  not 
attempt  to  justify  himself.  "O  Lord!"  says  he  to 
Jesus,  "  come  before  my  son  dies."  Jesus  says  to  him  : 
"  Go  ;  your  son  lives."  The  Gospel  adds  :  "  He  believes 
what  Jesus  tells  him,  and  he   goes  his  way."     He  be- 


( 

)  ,,-1-iof-     T™..~    «.«11..     1,." —      1     1-_ i.:_  __   >>  tt       7 

) 
) 


164  The  Life  of  our  Lord  yes  us  Christ. 

tage  of  Simon  Peter — a  significant  circumstance — all 
the  sick  and  the  possessed  are  led  to  him.  In  pre- 
sence of  all  the  inhabitants  assembled  before  the  gate 
he  cures  them,  fulfilling  this  expression  of  the  prophet: 
"He  has  taken  on  him  our  infirmities,  and  he  has 
loaded  himself  with  our  maladies."  "  And  the  demons, 
departing  out  of  the  bodies  of  the  possessed,  cry  out, 
You  are  the  Son  of  God  ;  but  Jesus  makes  them  keep 
silence,  because  they  knew  he  was  the  Christ." 

Let  us  mention  here  particularly  one  of  the  cures, 
which  was  a  promise  for  the  Jews,  so  often  reproved 
and  so  terribly  chastised.  Simon  Peter's  mother-in- 
law,  worn  down  by  age  and  afflicted  with  a  violent 
fever,  was  in  danger  of  death.  The  disciples  entreat 
Jesus  to  relieve  and  comfort  her.  He  commands  the 
fever  to  leave  her,  and  forthwith  this  malady  is  not 
only  cured,  but,  full  of  vigor,  she  rises  and  serves  them. 
To  seize  the  spiritual  sense  of  the  miracle,  and  to  com- 
prehend what  the  mother-in-law  of  St.  Peter  represents, 
let  us  recollect  that  the  spouse  of  the  Prince  of  the 
Apostles  is  the  Church.  The  mother-in-law  is  there- 
fore the  synagogue,  of  which  the  Church  is  born.  ■  She 
is  that  poor,  sick  creature,  wearied  with  envy,  avarice, 
hatred,  decrepitude,  and  devoured  by  care  and  anxiety 
about  profane  things.  She  will  not  die  ;  she  will  be  re- 
suscitated, and  enjoy  a  life  she  had  not  known.  The 
Saviour,  who  stops  at  Simon  Peter's  house,  will  extend 
his  hand  toward  her,  and  she  will  rise  up  to  bless  and 
serve  him. 

One  day  Jesus  embarked  on  the  lake  to  seek  a  little 
repose  in  the  neighboring  solitude.  He  encountered  a 
great  tempest.  The  water,  entering  into  the  boats, 
threatened  them  with  sudden  shipwreck.  Notwith- 
standing all  this,  Jesus  seems  to  sleep.     The  disciples, 


The  Life  of  oar  Lord  Jesus  Christ. 

terrified,  cry  out:  "Lord,  save  us;  we  perish."  But 
the  fathers  say  it  is  written  the  Guardian  of  Israel 
never  sleeps,  nor  will  he  ever  slumber.  He  sleeps  as  if 
he  were  taking  a  repose  at  the  well  of  Jacob,  to  show  us 
that  he  has  taken  a  body  like  ours.  His  divine  nature  is 
on  watch,  and  the  Divinity  has  ordained  that  this  storm 
should  break  forth,  so  that  we  might  have  a  proof  of 
the  power  of  Jesus  alike  over  men  and  over  the  ele- 
ments. Therefore,  he  awakes,  and  says  to  the  disciples  : 
"  Men  of  little  faith,  why  do  you  fear  ?  "  Then,  stretch- 
ing out  his  hand  over  the  winds,  he  says  to  the  sea  : 
"Be  still";  and  suddenly  there  came  a  great  calm. 
David  had  chanted:  The  waters  have  seen  thee,  O 
Lord  !  and  they  have  feared  ;  thou  commandest  the 
roaring  billows  of  the  sea,  and  curbest  its  billows,  and 
stillest  its  raging  fury. 

By  this  miracle,  says  St.  Jerome,  we  ought  to 
understand  that  all  creatures  acknowledge  Jesus  Christ 
for  their  author,  and  obey  his  voice.  Not  that  mate- 
rial things  may  have  a  soul  and  senses,  as  certain  here- 
tics have  dreamed,  but  such  is  the  majesty  of  God  that 
things  insensible  to  us  may  become  sensible  before 
him.&  And  the  witnesses,  the  disciples  and  the  others, 
though  they  were  about  to  perish,  seized  with  a  new 
fear,  say  to  one  another:  "  Who  is  this  Man  who  com- 
mands the  winds  and  the  sea,  and  they  obey  him?  " 

It  is  no  longer  Peter  that  is  fearful.  The  Church,  in 
favor  of  whom  the  miracle  was  performed,  attests  its 
renewal,  or  rather  its  permanency  or  lasting  duration  ; 
she  derives  from  this  miracle  an  invincible  confidence. 
Very  often  has  she  seen  the  winds  toss  the  sea  to  and 
fro.  But  she  knows  the  power  of  Him  who  watches 
when  he  seems  to  sleep.  She  invokes  him  ;  and  whether 
he  appeases  the  sudden  storm,  or  whether  he  lets  it  fol- 


[66 


The  Life  of  our  Lord  yesus  Christ. 


low  its  course,  the  menaced  bark  13  never  overwhelmed. 
On  the  contrary,  the  tempest  itself  protects  it  by  the 
shipwrecks  it  multiplies  around  the  Church  while  en- 
deavoring to  submerge  it  ;  and  Peter,  standing  in  the 
bark  in  place  of  his  Master,  governs  amid  perils  with  a 
firmness,  boldness,  and  courage  that  no  earthly  threat 
or  fear  can  trouble. 

During  this  evangelical  journey  Jesus  publicly  shows 
anew  his  power  over  the  devil.  A  frenzied,  possessed 
man  comes  to  him  and  adores  him  ;  and  at  the  same 
time  the  demons  who  torment  this  man  say  through  his 
mouth  :  "  Lord,  what  have  we  to  do  with  you  ?  Thou 
art  Jesus,  Son  of  the  Most  High  God."  Forced  to  quit 
their  prey,  they  implore  Jesus  not  to  command  them 
to  plunge  into  the  abyss,  but  to  permit  them  to  enter 
the  flock  of  swine  that  feed  hard  by.  He  consents  to 
their  wish,  because  all  belong  to  him  ;  because  the 
owners  of  the  swine  gave  scandal  ;  and  because  he 
wishes  to  prove  that  the  devil  can  have  no  power  over 
us  nor  over  the  things  which  belong  to  us,  except  in- 
asmuch as  God  permits  him.  Forthwith  the  possessed 
was  delivered,  and  the  swine  are  precipitated  into  the 
lake,  where  they  are  drowned. 

A  Roman  poet  boasted,  some  years  before,  of  being 
"  a  pig  of  the  herd  of  Epicure."  We  may  judge  accu- 
rately whence  he  got  this  taste  and  this  inspiration  : 
surely  from  Satan.  The  sort  of  wisdom  which  the  poet 
celebrates  has  cherished  the  same  sympathies  for  hogs; 
and  it  drowns  them  in  the  watery  deep  of  infidelity  and 
rationalism. 

When  Jesus  returns  from  Capharnaum,  they  bring  to 
him  a  paralytic,  so  that  he  might  cure  him.  Not  be- 
ing able  to  force  his  way  through  the  crowd,  the  men 
who  did  this  gooa  work  hoist  up  the  sick  man  to  the 


\  Tlie  Life  of  our  Lord  ye  sus   C/irisf.  167 

flat  roof  of  the  house,  and  forthwith  lower  him  gently 
near  to  the  Saviour.  Jesus,  touched  at  their  perse- 
verance, tenderly  says  to  the  paralytic  :  "  My  son,  take 
)  courage  ;   thy  sins  are  forgiven  thee." 

In  the  throng  there  were  Scribes  and  Pharisees, 
doubtless  very  overbearing,  and  as  persuaded  of  their 
justice  as  ever.  They  thought  among  themselves, 
"  This  man  blasphemcth.  Who  can  remit  sins  but  God 
alone?  "  Jesus,  penetrating  their  thoughts  by  his  own 
mind,  speaks  to  them  thus  :  "  Which  is  the  easier, 
to  say  to  a  paralytic,  Your  sins  arc  forgiven  you  ;  or  to 
say  to  him,  Rise  up,  take  your  bed,  and  walk  ?  Dut 
that  you  may  know  that  the  Son  of  Man  has  power  on 
earth  to  forgive  sins,  I  will  order  him  to  do  this.  He 
says  to  the  paralytic,  Arise,  take  up  your  bed,  and  re- 
turn to  your  home."  The  man  forthwith  stands  on 
his  feet,  takes  his  bed,  and  walks  away,  publishing 
the  wonders  of  God. 

Among  those  murmuring  Pharisees  many  were  sent 
from  Jerusalem  to  spy  after  Jesus.  From  this  very 
moment  we  behold  pharisaical  hatred  concocting  and 
laying  plans  to  entrap  him. 

Jesus  was  dining  at  the  house  of  the  publican  Levi, 
who  afterwards  became  Matthew,  the  apostle  and 
evangelist  of  our  Lord.  As  usual,  the  divine  Master 
is  found  in  the  midst  of  publicans  and  sinners,  many 
of  whom  follow  him.  The  Pharisees  were  scandalized 
at  this.  Jesus  replies  to  them  :  "  It  is  not  the  healthy 
and  strong  who  stand  in  need  of  a  physician,  but  the 
sick,  the  weak."  Conceive  what  this  expression  of  the 
prophet  Osee  signifies:  I  wish  mercy,  and  not  sacrifice; 
because  I  am  not  come  to  call  to  repentance  the  just, 
but  the  sinners. 

By  the  irony  of  this  language  the  Pharisees  feel  that 


The  Life  of  our  Lord  yesus  Christ. 

Jesus  does  not  view  them  with  that  courteous  regard 
they  had  for  themselves.  With  the  design  of  embar- 
rassing and  ensnaring  him,  they  bribe  certain  of  the 
disciples  of  John  the  Baptist,  who  say  to  him  :  "  How 
comes  it  the  disciples  of  John  and  those  of  the  Pharisees 
frequently  fast  and  pray,  and  that  yours  eat  and  drink, 
and  do  not  fast  ?  "  Jesus  responds:  "The  friends  of 
the  Bridegroom  are  not  in  mourning,  and  do  not  fast 
whilst  the  Bridegroom  is  with  them  ;  but  a  day  will 
come  when  the  Bridegroom  shall  be  taken  away  from 
them,  and  then  they  will  fast."  He  draws  a  compari- 
son which  is  an  admirable  lesson  of  gentleness  and  con- 
descension toward  novices,  whose  weakness  we  should 
not  discourage  by  wishing  forthwith  to  raise  them  to  a 
state  of  perfection.  In  establishing  the  Church  he  in- 
structs her  for  ever  ;  since  her  office  and  duty  are  al- 
ways to  cure  the  sick  and  convert  sinners.  But  the 
Pharisees  could  not  see  so  far,  and  do  not  yet  see.  As 
to  Jesus  Christ  himself,  prayer,  fasting,  and  apostolic 
labor  were  his  principal  nourishment,  according  to  that 
word  he  uttered  :  "  My  food  is  to  do  the  will  of  Him 
who  sent  me." 


CHAPTER  IV. 


THE   WOMAN   AFFLICTED   WITH   THE    ISSUE   OF   BLOOD 
— THE   DAUGHTER   OF  JAIRUS. 

THE  Pharisees,  nevertheless,  availed  themselves  of 
every  occasion  to  recur  to  the  power  and  good- 
ness of  Him  whom  they  endeavored  to  persecute,  vilify, 
and  censure.  It  is  probable  that  Jairus,  the  chief  of 
the  synagogue  at  Capharnaum,  belonged  to  this  party  ; 
but  he  had  a  daughter,  twelve  years  of  age,  who  fell 
sick.  Believing  her  about  to  die,  Jairus  flew  to  Jesus, 
who  was  teaching  on  the  shore  of  the  Sea  of  Tiberias, 
and  prostrated  himself  at  his  feet,  and,  with  a  carnal 
faith,  he  implores  him  to  come  and  restore  his  dying 
daughter  to  life,  persuaded  that  he  could  and  would 
accomplish  it,  but,  on  the  other  hand,  as  a  carnal  and 
worldly  man,  believing  that  his  presence  and  the  impo- 
sition of  his  hands  were  necessary  for  the  accomplish- 
ment of  his  desire.  The  Lord,  without  reproving  him, 
rises  up  and  follows  him. 

Amidst  the  throng  of  people  following  him  there 
was  a  woman  from  the  city  of  Cesarea.  She  came, 
doubtless,  to  see  Him  about  whom  so  much  had  been 
said  everywhere.  For  twelve  years  she  suffered  from  a 
flow  of  blood,  which  baffled  the  skill  of  the  most  noted 

physicians;    for  instead   of  ameliorating  her  condition, 

169 


170 


The  Life  of  our  Lord  "jesus  Christ. 


they  made  it  worse.  This  woman,  not  daring  to  accost 
him  nor  ask  anything  of  him,  but  full  of  faith,  and  more 
enlightened  by  a  supernatural  light  than  by  any  other 
teaching,  says  within  herself:  "  If  I  could  but  touch 
the  hem  of  his  garment,  I  would  be  cured."  Instantly 
the  Lord  turns  around  and  asks  who  touched  the  hem 
of  his  garment. 

And  as  all  declared  themselves  guiltless  of  the  act — 
a  fact  which  shows  the  profound  respect  in  which  he 
was  held  by  the  people,  even  when  he  allowed  himself 
to  be  annoyed  and  worried  by  them — Peter  says  to 
him  :  "  Master,  the  throng  press  around  and  overpower 
you,  and  you  ask  who  has  touched  you."  But  Jesus, 
continuing  to  look  upon  the  vast  multitude  that  flocked 
about,  replies  :  "  Some  one  has  touched  me  ;  for  power 
has  gone  out  from  me." 

The  influences  of  Jesus  are  incorporeal,  and  do  not 
proceed  from  him  in  a  material  way,  so  as  to  communi- 
cate themselves  to  others,  as  if  this  power  abandoned 
him,  the  same  as  science  does  not  forsake  him  who 
teaches  it,  to  go  to  him  who  is  taught.  Jesus  turns 
about  and  questions,  so  as  to  show  that  he  knows  that 
this  woman  is  cured,  and  how  she  is  healed,  and  thereby 
to  honor  her  faith.  "  Who  has  touched  me  ?  " — that  is, 
by  faith  and  desire.  The  multitudes  who  press  about 
me  do  not.  touch  me,  because  they  do  not  touch  me  by 
faith  and  desire. 

The  woman  afflicted  with  an  issue  of  blood,  terrified, 
casts  herself  at  his  feet,  avowing  what  she  had  done. 
Jesus  says  to  her  :  "  My  daughter,  have  courage;  your 
faith  has  made  you  whole.  Go  in  peace."  She  becomes 
his  daughter  when  she  obtains  the  faith  ;  it  is  her  faith 
that  heals  her,  and  not,  says  Tertullian,  her  profound 
knowledge  of  the    Scriptures.     This  is  a  great  lesson 


The  Life  of  our  Lord  y'esus  CJirist.  171 

taught  the  Scribes.  Jesus  requires  of  her  this  declara- 
tion to  impart  to  us  that  teaching,  so  that  our  souls 
may  hear  it.*  "Confide,  filia,  fides  tua  te  salvam 
fecit."  To  what  innumerable  souls  has  not  this  word 
brought  peace,  strength,  and  salvation  ! 

Jairus,  doubtless,  was  the  first  in  whose  soul  it  in- 
creased faith.  To  him  word  is  brought  that  at  this  very 
moment  his  daughter  had  expired.  Although  some 
body  in  the  crowd  advised  him  not  to  importune  the 
Saviour  any  more,  "  Lord,"  he  cries,  "  my  daughter  is 
dead  ;  but  come,  put  your  hand  upon  her,  and  she  will 
live."  O  happy  father  !  O  thrice  happy  for  having 
thus  spoken  !     One  word  of  Jesus  strengthens  his  hope. 


They  arrive  at  the  house  ;  lamentations  and  sobbings 
and  weepings  are  heard  on  every  side.  Jesus  says  to 
those  who  were  lamenting  and  weeping:  "  Why  do 
you  weep  ?     The  young  girl  is  not  dead  :  she  sleeps." 

The  people  jeer  at  him,  because  they  had  seen  the 
girl  dying.  Jesus  causes  the  pressing  throng  to  be 
turned  out,  also  the  musicians,  who  were  there  accord- 
ing to  funeral  usage.  Observing  near  him  only  the 
father  and  mother  and  three  of  his  disciples— Peter, 
James,  and  John — he  takes  hold  of  the  hand  of  her  that 
was  dead.  "Young  woman,"  says  he,  "arise."  The 
young  woman  arises  and  walks.  Jesus  orders  them  to 
give  her  something  to  eat.  At  the  same  time  he  ex- 
pressly forbids  the  parents  to  divulge  anything  of  what 
they  had  seen  ;  but  they  disobey  him,  as  well  as  many 
others  who  had  received  the  same  injunctions.     He  has 


\  *  According  to  a  respectable  tradition,  the  woman  afflicted  with  an 

issue  of  blood  is  that  very  same  woman,  called  Veronica,  who,  on  the 

)  road  to  Calvary,  dried  the  sweat  and  blood  from  the  adorable  body  (  f 

Jesus  with  a  linen  handkerchief,  on  which   he   left   the  impress  of  his 

)  countenance. 


172  The  Life  of  our  Lord  ffesus   Christ. 

sometimes  forbidden  and  sometimes  commanded  the 
publishing  of  his  miracles,  for  various  reasons,  which 
cannot  be  quite  well  comprehended  ;  for  the  explica- 
tions given  of  them  are  not  always  quite  satisfactory. 
The  truest  reason  is  that  he  wished  that  his  disciples 
would  learn  to  conceal  as  much  as  possible  the  gifts  he 
conferred  upon  them,  so  as  to  avoid  the  danger  of  vain- 
glory. But  why  has  he  commanded  this  miracle  to  be 
concealed  rather  than  others?  No  doubt  he  desired  it 
for  motives  worthy  of  himself,  and  we  ought  to  know 
how  to  ignore  what  he  has  judged  proper  for  us  not  to 
know.  What  we  understand  is  sufficient,  and  is  all  that 
is  necessary  to  be  known. 

The  fathers  have  remarked  and  have  clearly  explain- 
ed for  us  the  mysterious  connection  of  these  two  mir- 
acles, related  on  the  same  page  of  the  Gospel,  and  which 
are  equally  prophetic  and  equally  fulfil  the  ancient  pro- 
phecies. In  the  first  miracle,  the  healing  of  the  woman 
afflicted  with  the  flowing  of  blood,  wrought  by  the  sim- 
ple touch  of  the  Saviour's  garment  (by  which  the  Savi- 
our has  justified  the  veneration  of  holy  relics),  are  signal- 
ized a  remembrance  of  Aaron's,  and  a  promise  of  Christ's 
priesthood,  and  a  shining  figure  of  the  Incarnation.  It 
is  said  that  the  unction  shed  on  Aaron's  head  flowed 
even  to  the  extremity  of  his  garment,  and  preserved 
throughout  it  its  power  and  virtue.  The  sick  woman 
comprehended  this  symbol.  More  learned  by  faith  than 
all  the  Jewish  doctors,  with  their  learned  researches, 
without  pausing  to  reflect  on  the  apparent  weakness 
of  visible  nature,  she  believes  the  Man  of  miracles  who 
passes  before  her,  tormented  and  harassed,  and  pressed 
by  the  vulgar  throng,  is  God  himself,  and  that  the  divine 

)  virtue  went  forth  from  that  garment  of  flesh  wherewith  ( 

)  .  ( 

)  he  touched  the  earth  as  if  with  the  hem  of  his  garment.  ( 


The  Life  of  cur  Lord  Jesus   Christ. 

But  the  mantle  of  Christ  is  his  Incarnation,  by  which 
the  Word  has  put  on  our  humanity;  and  the  hem  of 
this  garment  are  the  dogmas  of  faith  which  depend 
from  the  Incarnation. 

And  this  sick  woman  who  extends  her  hands  to  touch 
the  garment  of  Christ,  so  as  to  be  healed— this  sick  and 
afflicted  creature  who  year  by  year  loses  her  natural 
strength— this  afflicted  woman,  given  up  as  incurable, 
is  the  Church  of  the  Gentiles,  lost  and  ruined  by  phi- 
losophy, wisdom,  science,  and  crime,  and  about  to  die  if 
He  who  is  the  expectation  of  the  world  had  not  appear- 
ed.   In  vain  does  she  interrogate  the  physicians.    There 
is  no  doctor  to  be  found  to  cure  her  malady.     Plato, 
Jupiter,  Caesar,  only  torment  and  destroy  her.     What- 
ever they  may  say,  whatever  she  may  do,  her  blood 
flows.     In   the   eyes   of  the   Jews,  this  loss   of  blood, 
though   they  cannot   stop   it,  renders  her  corrupt  and 
impure  ;  the  Jews  do  not  trouble  themselves  about  her, 
only  to  exclude  her  from  offering  sacrifices  in  the  Tem- 
ple to  the  Lord.     She  must   die  ;  she  is  so  exhausted 
from   the   malady    she   cannot   live.     It  is  then   Jesus 
shows  himself,   and  prevents  her  by  a  sublime  faith. 
She  does  not  say,  on  beholding  him,  "  Perhaps  "  ;  she 
says,  "  Certainly  I  shall  be  healed."     She  follows  him 
in  the  throng  of  those  who  follow  him  and  press  around 
him,  but  do  not  touch  him,  who  rather,  as  St.  Peter 
says,    "oppress   him    and   afflict   him,"    because  their 
curiosity  admires  him  ;  but  their  hearts  ask  nothing  of 
him,   and,  above  all,  offer  him  nothing.     She  follows 
him  ;  she  touches  him  to  be  healed,  and  she  is  healed . 
Thus  the  Church  of  the  Gentiles,  says  St.  Leo,  without 
having  seen  Jesus  in  his  mortal  flesh,  but  having  heard 
him    in   his  apostles,  as  it  were  seized  by  the  hand  the 
mystery  of  Incarnation.     She  presses  forward,  says  St. 


) 

174  The  Life  of  our  Lord  yesus  Christ, 

\  Hilary,  to  receive  the  gift  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  which  is 

the  fruit   and    adornment    of   the    Incarnation   of   the 
j  Word,  and  flows  from  it  just  as  the  fringe  hangs  from 

)  the  garment  that  it  adorns  and  borders.     And  as  the 

woman  afflicted  with  the  issue  of  blood,  healed  with- 
out being  seen,  is  called  back  to  acknowledge  the  ) 
benefit  and  receive  the  sweet  name  of  daughter,  so  the  ) 
Church  of  the  Gentiles,  which  Jesus  Christ  healed  by 
the  ministry  of  the  apostles,  without  having  seen  him 
with  the  eyes  of  the  body,  received  from  him  that 
sweet,  paternal  expression,  "  Confide,  filia." 

However,  when  Jesus  cured  the  woman  afflicted  with 


an  issue  of  blood,  it  was  not  to  her  he  seemed  to  go. 
She  is  encountered  on  the  way  by  his  will,  which  has 
ordered  all  things  to  instruct  mankind  ;  but  he  goes 
elsewhere.  He  follows  Jairus,  who  had  come  to 
him,  to  restore  his  dying  daughter  to  life. 

The  name  of  Jairus  signifies  illumined  and  illumining. 
By  this  name,  and  by  the  title  of  chief  of  the  syna- 
gogue, Jairus  represents  Moses.  His  daughter  was 
twelve  years  of  age  ;  the  synagogue,  daughter  of  Moses, 
existed    for    twelve    centuries.       And    as    the    woman  *) 

afflicted  with  the  issue  of  blood  suffered  for  twelve 
years,  so  for  twelve  centuries  the  Gentile  nations,  more 
and  more  oppressed  by  idolatry,  lost  more  and  more 
their  patrimony  of  natural  virtues,  and  bled  under  the 
hand  of  false  sages,  from  whom  they  demanded  in  vain 
light  and  peace.  The  Church,  says  Raban  Maur,  was 
weak,  whilst  the  synagogue  was  vigorous  and  full  of 
life  ;  and  when  the  synagogue  perished  because  of  her 
infidelity  and  incredulity,  then  the  salvation  of  the 
Gentiles  began. 

Jesus  also  offered  salvation  to  the  dying  synagogue. 
He  did  not  wish  to  destroy,  but  to  accomplish   what 


)  \ 


— 


The  Life  of  our  Lord  jfcsus  Christ.  175 

Moses,  his  prophet  and  his  precursor,  had  prepared.    I  [e 

walked  in  his  footprints,  and  said  to  the  Jews:  "The 

books  of  Moses  contain  the  history  of  my  life."     And 

1 
instead  of    establishing    the    Church  on  the    ruins    of  $ 

the  synagogue,  he  offers  to  the  synagogue,  spread  out 
to  the  boundaries  of  the  earth,  to  receive  all  nations 
into  her  bosom,  and  to  become  herself  the  Church. 
At  the  time  we  arc  speaking  of,  observes  St.  Je- 
rome, he  had  wrought  seven  miracles  ;  the  eighth 
(the  complement  of  the  mysterious  number  which 
expresses  the  New  Law — that  is  to  say,  the  new  cre- 
ation by  redemption)  was  the  resurrection  of  the 
daughter  of  Jairus  ;  the  renovation,  by  a  second  birth, 
of  the  synagogue,  the  daughter  of  Moses.  But  the 
synagogue  did  not  believe,  and  she  did  not  implore 
to  be  healed  or  cured  by  faith;  and  in  view  of  faith  her 
rank  is  taken  by  the  humble  and  fervent  Gentiles.     The 

last  to  demand  aid,  the  Church  is  first  to  be  heard  ;  she 
) 
)  is  substituted   for  the   synagogue.     David   announced 

)  •      •  ( 

that   dark  Ethiopia — heathendom — blackened  with  in- 


numerable vices,  would  be  the  first  to  extend  its 
hands  toward  the  Saviour  ;  and  Jesus  himself  said  to 
the  Pharisees  that  the  publicans  and  fallen  women 
would  precede  them  in  the  kingdom  of  heaven.  The 
salvation  destined  for  the  synagogue,  says  St.  Hilary, 
was  given  to  the  Church,  and  thus  was  accomplished 
the  mystery  whereby  the  Gentiles  were  put  in  posses- 
sion of  the  benefits  promised  to  the  Jews,  but  refused 
by  them. 

In  replacing  the  synagogue  Jesus,  the  Son  of  God, 


on  all  occasions  shows  that  he  does  not  forget  her.  lie 
continues  his  route  toward  the  house  of  Jairus,  toward 
the  daughter  of  Moses,  thereby  teaching  us  before- 
hand what   St.   Paul   so   admirably   interpreted  in   his 

! 


The  Life  of  our  Lord  jfesus  Christ. 

Epistle  to  the  Romans  on  this  point  :  "  Has,  then, 
God  rejected  his  people  ?  By  no  means.  .  .  .  God 
permitted  the  blindness  of  a  portion  of  the  Jews,  so 
that  the  fulness  of  the  nations  may  enter  into  the 
Church  :  and  then  all  Israel  shall  be  saved." 

All  the  episodes  of  the  miracle  confirm  this  doctrine. 
There  are  indeed  other  meanings  in  it  various  and  pro- 
found, for  the  divine  character  of  the  Scriptures,  es- 
pecially of  the  Gospel,  has  an  inexhaustible  variety 
in  the  consistent  unity  of  its  teaching,  and  this  is  why 
the  fathers  say  the  Gospel  is  typified  by  those  beasts 
of  the  Apocalypse  who  are  covered  all  over  with  eyes. 

On  arriving  at  the  house  of  Jairus  the  Saviour  meets 
with  tumultuous  throngs  of  mourners  and  funeral 
musicians.  These  were  the  useless  band  of  rabbis  by 
whom  the  Jewish  people  were  environed.  They  called 
themselves  the  doctors  of  Israel  ;  they  were  but  the 
sad  mutes  of  the  funeral  of  its  expired  reign,  of  its 
defunct  priesthood,  of  its  annihilated  temple.  They 
did  not  comprehend  the  canticles  which  they  sang  in 
their  temples  on  the  Sabbath  day  ;  they  were  incom- 
prehensible to  them.  Their  Sabbath  was  destroyed, 
like  everything  else.  What  is  dead  is  dead,  and  they 
knew  it  ;  but  they  did  not  wish  to  know  that  all  would 
revive  with  Christ  when  Christ  would  reassume  life. 
Jesus  caused  those  sycophants  to  be  still  ;  he  imposed 
silence  on  those  who  filled  the  ears  of  the  dead  body 
with  vain  words,  as  if  to  prevent  the  entrance  of  the 
words  of  Christ — words  which  revivify,  words  which 
are  "  spirit  and  life." 

There  was  in  the  house  other  tumult — a  confusion 
of  lamentations  and  wailings.  The  Jewish  people,  re- 
marks St.  Jerome,  are  not  a  believing,  but  a  turbulent, 
seditious  people.     Jesus,  with  his  majestic  self-posses- 


The  Life  of  our  Lord  jTesus  Christ.  177 

sion,  says  to  them  :  "  The  young  woman  is  not  dead  ; 
she  is  only  sleeping."  They  ridicule  this  language, 
whose  mildness  already  consoles  those  who  are  afflicted 
with  real  grief.  Behold  indeed,  says  St.  Hilary,  the 
men  whom  Jesus  endeavors  everywhere  to  convert  — 
everywhere  he  finds  them  unwilling  to  believe;  these 
very  men  were  ready  to  mock  all  his  doctrine,  and  he 
drives  them  off,  for  they  were  unworthy  longer  to 
behold  his  works.  The  Jews  did  not  assist  at  the  re- 
storation to  life  of  her  who  to  them  was  dead,  but  who 
only  slept  before  Him  who  is  the  life  eternally 
victorious.  This  young  woman  was  no  more  dead 
than  Lazarus,  of  whom  he  also  said,  "  He  sleepeth," 
although  Lazarus  at  that  moment  was  sleeping  in  the 
tomb.  He  sleepeth,  but  I  will  go  and  awake  him  ;  I 
will  draw  him  from  the  sleep  of  death,  which  is  also  my 
servant,  and  which  obeys  like  the  sea  and  the  winds. 
I  will  call  upon  death,  and  it  will  come  ;  I  will  send  it 
)  away,  and  it  will  go  away.      I  will  demand  again  of  it 

what  I  had  permitted   it  to  seize,  and  it  will  render  it 
back   again.     As   regards  you   who  surround   me,   the 


girl  is  dead  ;  but  before  me  she  is  only  sleeping,  for  I 


possess  the  power  of  life  and  death  :  Vo&is  mortua  est, 
viiJii  dormit.  This  is  the  commentary  of  St.  Jerome  on 
the  words  spoken  in  the  house  of  Jairus.  The  faith  of 
the  Christian  will  triumph  ever  the  phantom  of  death. 
St.  Paul,  speaking  the  language  of  Jesus,  says  to  them,  \ 

Let  us  only  shed  tears  of  hope  for  those  who  sleep  in 
Christ  ;  for  they  will  rise  up  with  Jesus  who  have  fallen 
asleep  in  him.  And  this  people  of  God  will  call  the 
field  enriched  with  life-giving  blessings  "  Dormitories," 
where  its  ashes  repose,  as  it  were  an  immortal  brood 
under  the  wings  of  the  cross. 

In   accomplishing    the    resurrection    from    the    dead 


178  The  Life  of  our  Lord  ye  sus   Christ. 

Jesus  took  care  to  have  near  him  the  father  and  mo-  1 

ther   and  the  three   disciples.     Resuscitated  by  virtue  / 

)  of  the  promise   made   to  Moses,  the   Jews  will  receive  \ 

life  by  the  preaching  of  the  apostles.  S 

And  the  Lord  takes  the  young  girl  by  the  hand,  be-  ) 

cause  no  other  hand  but  that  of  Jesus  can  render  life  to 

<  the  Jews,  whose  hand  put   him  to  death.     And  when  [ 
the  dead  girl  rises  up  and  walks,  he  orders  them  to  give 

<  her  something  to  eat — give  her  the  divine  nourishment 

<  of  Christians,  give  her  the  Eucharist,  and  let  the  syna- 
gogue drink  out  of  the  new  chalice,   from  which  even 

)  now  the  Gentiles  and  the  Samaritans  drink  together, 

so  that   all  may  have  life,  and  an  eternal  abundance  of 


life. 


Such  is  the  prophetic  sense  of  the  resurrection  of  the 

)  daughter  of  Jairus,   in    harmony  with   the    curing    or 

1  healing   of    Simon    Peter's    mother-in-law    and    every 

work   of  Jesus.      There  is  yet  another    sense   we  will 

)  have  to  consider  further. 

Departing  from  the  house  of  Jairus,  Jesus  meets  with 
two  blind  men,  who  cry  out  to  him  :  "  Son  of  David, 
have  mercy  on   us."     He  appears  not  to  hear  them  ;  \ 

but  the  blind  men,  without  ceasing,  follow  him  even  to  > 

his  lodgings.     There  he  demands  of  them  if  they  be-  > 

lieve  he  can  accomplish  what  they  desire  of  him. 
They  reply:  "Yes,  Lord."  Then  he  touches  their 
eyes,  saying,  "  Let  it  be  done  according  to  your  faith,' 
and  their  eyes  were  opened.  Soon  after  they  present 
to  him  a  man  who  became  dumb  by  the  power  of  the 
devil.  Because  this  mute  person  was  deprived  of  his 
liberty,  he  heals  him  without  asking  him  any  questions, 
just  as  we  give  baptism  to  little  children.  The  peo- 
ple, full  of  admiration,  cry  out:   "  Nothing  of   the  like 

)  has  ever  been  seen  in  Israel."     The  Pharisees,  acknow- 

) 


The  Life  of  our  Lord  Jtsm  Christ.  ng 

lodging  these  miracles,  which  they  could  not  deny 
said  :  •  It  is  by  the  means  of  the  prince  of  devils  lie 
casts  out  devils."  That  very  same  day  he  had  cured 
sick  ones  whose  disease  baffled  all  human  power 
healed  infirmities,  conquered  devils  and  death  ■  but 
the  impiety  of  pride  would  not  believe. 


4 


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WmM®m 

CHAPTER  V. 


THE  SICK  MAN  AT  THE  POOL — MAGDALEN. 


T  ESUS,  teaching  and  healing  on  his  way,  returns  to 
'  Jerusalem  to  be  present  at  the  feast  of  the  Jews — 
what  many  understand  to  have  been  the  Pasch.  He 
knew  he  would  meet  Pharisees  as  malevolent  as,  and 
more  powerful  than,  those  in  Galilee.  Since  the  miracle 
of  Capharnaum,  the  Pharisees  conspired  against  him — 
not  that  he  could  or  had  as  yet  attacked  them  much, 
but  because  lie  preached  a  penance  different  from 
theirs;  because  he  had  performed  other  works  which 
they  could  not  do;  and  because  he  led  a  life  other 
than  theirs.  They  accused  him  of  blasphemy.  His 
charity  furnishes  them  wherewith  to  impute  to  him 
another  crime.  The  miracle  whose  recital  is  about  to 
follow  is  one  of  the  most  signal,  by  its  importance,  in 
the  life  of  the  Saviour,  and  by  the  vast  and  deep  mean- 
ing of  the  circumstances  which  accompanied  it. 

There  Avas   at   Jerusalem   a   pool  celebrated  by  the 
favors  God  bestowed  on   it.  It  was  called  the  Pool 

•)f  Bethsaida,  and  in  Greek  the  Pool  Probatica,  or  the 
sheep-pond.  Bethsaida  signifies  the  house  of  mercy. 
The  priests  were  accustomed  to  wash  therein  the  sheep 
destined  for  the  sacrifice — thereby  the  name  of  sheep- 
pond.      It  was  a  basin  or  pool   of  rain-water,  enclosed 


The  Life  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ.  1 8 1 

by  five  galleries  of  architecture.  A  vast  number  of  all 
diseased  persons  assembled — the  blind,  the  lame,  the 
paralyzed,  and  others — who  awaited  the  stirring  of  the 
waters.  For  it  happened  at  certain  times  of  the  year 
the  water  was  suddenly  stirred  by  the  invisible  action  of 
an  angel,  and  the  sick  person  who  descended  the  first 
into  the  pool  after  the  water  had  been  so  stirred  was 
forthwith  healed,  whatever  might  be  his  infirmity. 

Like  these  sick  persons  assembled  under  the  galleries 
of  the  pool,  awaiting  that  the  waters  might  become 
healing  and  curative,  the  Jewish  people,  separated  from 
other  peoples  named  in  the  five  books  of  Moses,  ex- 
pect the  Redeemer.  But  that  people  became  sick  and 
infirm,  and  their  law  did  not  heal  them.  Given  only  to 
make  sin  known,  the  law  accused  the  sinner;  it  could 
not  absolve  him.  However,  it  kept  him  near  the 
pool,  near  to  salvation.  That  vast  multitude  of  inva- 
lids, animated  by  faith  and  hope,  represents,  then,  the 
throng  of  faithful  Jews,  hastening  by  their  aspirations 
the  advent  of  the  Messias.  In  specifying  diseases,  ag- 
gravated and  quite  incurable,  the  Gospel  extends  the 
type  to  the  rest  of  the  human  race.  The  Gentiles 
were  sicker  than  the  Jews — they  were  the  blind,  igno- 
rant of  the  fundamental  truths;  the  maimed,  become 
even  incapable  of  practising  the  natural  law,  of  which 
they  only  preserved  a  vague  notion  ;  the  consumptive, 
in  whom  the  ardor  of  voluptuousness  had  dried  up  the 
sap  of  divine  love.  Those,  therefore,  radically  lost 
could  expect  nothing  save  from  a  miracle.  They  were 
the  mighty  plague  lying  on  the  earth.  To  cure 
this  disease,  says  St.  Augustine,  it  required  the  ser- 
vices of  the  great  Physician  descended  from  heaven. 
This  Physician  was  Jesus  Christ.  The  prophets  had 
announced   him;   the  angel  of  the  pool  typified  him. 


1 82  The  Life  of  our  Lord   Jesus   Christ. 

The  angel  descended  invisible  —  the  divine  Word, 
covered  with  the  veil  of  humanity;  the  angel  stirs  up 
the  waters:  Jesus  Christ,  by  his  doctrine  and  miracles, 
stirs  up  the  consciences  and  relieves  the  torpor  of  the 
things  of  this  life.  Life  will  no  more  stand  in  need 
of  stagnant  waters,  as  in  former  times.  The  sluggish 
mire  in  which  the  soul  expected  the  healing  of  its 
original  wound  leads  but  to  death.  Unheard-of  ener- 
gies will  be  aroused  in  it  ;  their  sharp,  stirring  contact 
will  fortify  the  debilities  that  effeminacy  engenders. 
Jesus  brings  to  the  world  three  things — trouble,  fire, 
and  the  sword  ;  and  these  three  things  will  establish 
therein  peace.  Peace  be  with  you  !  I  give  you  my 
peace  !  This  peace  is  the  excellent  fruit  of  the  su- 
preme power — the  peace  which  surpasses  eveiy  other 
)  good. 

Whatever  infirmity  they  were  afflicted  with,  the  first 
that  plunged  into  troubled  water  was  instantly  healed. 
By  this  interpreters  of  Holy  Writ  recognize  two  im- 
portant figures  or  symbols:  baptism  and  our  Saviour's 
passion.  By  the  Passion  of  Jesus  Christ,  who  was,  is, 
and  will  be  ever  the  great  trouble  of  the  world,  the  wa- 
ters of  baptism  receive  their  virtue  of  healing  or  curing 
souls.  The  reality  surpasses  the  figure  in  as  far  as  the 
power  of  God  exceeds  man's  understanding.  Never- 
theless, the  figure  is  the  exact  expression  of  the  reality. 
The  water  of  the  pool  possessed  no  virtue  of  itself; 
the  baptismal  water,  of  itself,  has  none.  The  water  of 
the  pool  required  the  descent  of  an  angel  and  the  move- 
ment he  excited  in  it  ;  it  was  also  necessary  that  Jesus 
Christ  should  descend  into  the  Jordan,  so  that  the 
water,  through  the  contact  with  his  immaculate  flesh, 
might  acquire  what  St.  Bernard  calls  the  jus  baptismi— 
should  become  the  water  of  baptism;  and  it  baptizes 


! 


The  Life  of  our  Lord  'Jesus  Christ.  183 

not,  it  effaces  not  sin,  until  put  in  motion  and  stirred  in 
\  a  certain  manner   by  the   Holy  Trinity,  who  suddenly 

<  unites  to  it  the  grace  of  the   Holy  Ghost.     The  action 

of  plunging  one's  self  in  the  pool  expresses  faith  in  the 
Passion  of  Jesus  Christ  :  by  the  sacrament  of  penance, 
which  renews  in  us  the  splendor  of  baptism,  we  descend 
into  the  pool  wherein  the  blood  of  Jesus  Christ,  wash- 
ing away  our  impurities,  heals  our  infirmity. 

And    it    was    the    sheep-pond!      This    place    bears 
this   name,   wherein  breathes  the  mildness  and  tender- 
ness of  the  Gospel.     They  washed  therein  the  sheep 
destined  for  the   sacrifice;  this  is   what  the  world  then 
'  knew.       Now  we   see    the    prophecy   of   the    Sacrifice 


I  offered  for  the  sheep.  While  Jesus  appears  under 
those  porticos,  witnesses  of  so  great  and  so  constant 
a  miracle,  the  name  and  the  miracle,  the  past  and  the 
future,  all  are  illumined  by  his  splendor.  Behold  the 
Lamb  of  God  at  the  sheep-pond— the  Lamb,  the  Ruler, 
the  Lamb  that  taketh  away  the  sins  of  the  world.  Be- 
hold Him  who  will  give  his  flesh  and  his  blood  for  the 
sins  of  the  world  ;  and  he  is,  at  the  same  time,  the  shep- 
herd of  the  lost  sheep,  who  wanders  through  briers  and 
thorns  to  find  it  out,  who  carries  it  back  on  his  shoul- 
ders, and  who  will  take  care  of  it  in  the  eternal  sheep- 
fold.  It  is  He  who,  by  the  prophet,  had  called  his  faith- 
ful "  the  sheep  of  God's  pasturage  "—he  who  will  say 
to  Peter:  "  Feed  my  lambs,  feed  my  sheep."  Behold 
him  on  the  border  of  the  pool  :  type  of  the  treasures 
which  he  carries  with  him.  He  comes  where  the  sheep 
of  sacrifice  are  washed,  himself  the  true  Victim,  who 
will  anxiously  wish  to  be  washed  in  his  own  blood 
when  the  hour  shall  come  to  die  for  us. 

As  he  gives  meaning  to  the  place,  so  he  is  the  mean- 
ing of  the  miracle.     This  great  miracle,  renewed  each 


The  Life  of  car  Lord  Jesus  Christ. 


year  for  so  many  ages,  recalls  to  the  Jews,  in  a  striking 
\  manner,  both  the  inefficacy  of  the  law  to  purify  from 

j  sin  and   the  power  of  the   Messias    to  save  mankind. 

The  healing  qualities  of  the  pool  explain  the  mysteries 
}  announced  in  the  Temple  ;  they  inspire  prayer,  strength- 

en hope,  and  predispose  to  faith  by  baptism.     Since 
water  can  heal  diseases  of  the  body,  by  water  the  dis- 
)  eases  of  the  soul  can  equally  be  healed. 

But  why  is  it  that  there  was  but  one  cure  performed 
each  time  the  water  was  stirred  ?  To  signify  unity, 
answers  St.  Augustine — only  one  God,  only  one  bap- 
tism ;  he  only  is  purified  from  all  spiritual  infirmity 
who  participates  in  the  unity  of  the  Catholic  Church 
and  in  the  mysteries  of  Jesus  Christ.  In  vain  can  the 
baptism  of  heretics  be  called  a  true  baptism  ;  it  will 
not  save  those  who  live  knowingly  and  voluntarily  be- 
yond th-e  pale  of  unity  of  the  Catholic  Church.  Salva- 
tion is  obtained  only  through  her  ;  she  is  the  only 
Church  that  has  received  the  power  from  God  of  saving 
souls.  This  sick  man,  only  healed  by  the  waters  of  the 
pool,  is  therefore  a  type  or  figure  of  all  true  Christians, 
washed  in  the  baptismal  font,  who  form  but  one  unique 
j  Christian  people — the  first  and  last  mystic  body  of  Jesus 

Christ.  Those  who,  although  at  diners  times  and 
places,  receive  the  baptism  of  Catholic  unity,  are  mem- 
bers of  the  one  same  divine  body;  they  descend  into 
the  sacred  bath,  and  rise  up  out  of  it  as  only  one  man. 
Others,  not  pertaining  to  the  body  of  the  Church, 
are  like  those  who  plunge  themselves  into  the  waters 
)  after  the  first,  and  who  derive  no  advantage  from  them. 

They  arrive  too  late  ;  they  receive  a  baptism  which,  so 
to  speak,  apostasy  effaces,  and  therefore  nothing  is  left 
for  them. 

Thus  Providence  sustains  the  Jewish  faith,  and, 


The  Life  of  our  Lord  yes  us   Christ.  185 

advance,  fortifies  and  enlightens  ours,  giving  to  it  the 
foundation  of  the  figurative  testimony  and  the  founda- 
tion of  the  apostolic  testimony— both  indestructible 
bases,  whereon  is  built  up  the  divine  edifice  of  religion, 
whose  corner-stone  is  Christ. 

But  there  was  crouched  there,  under  the  porticos  of 

j  the  pool,  a  man  who  had  been  sick  for  thirty-eight  years. 

Jesus,  knowing  the  long  duration  of  his  infirmity,  says 
to  him  :  "  Do  you  wish  to  be  cured  ?  "  The  sick  man 
replies  :  "  Lord,  I  have  not  a  man  who  will  assist  me  to 
descend  into  the  waters  when  they  are  troubled  :  whilst 
I  am  coming  another  goes  down  before  me."  Jesus 
says  to  him:  "Rise,  take  up  your  bed,  and  walk." 
Forthwith,  this  man  was  healed.  He  takes  his  bed 
and  walks  away.  The  Jews,  seeing  this,  say  to  him  : 
"  This  is  the  Sabbath  da}',  and  it  is  not  lawful  to  carry 
your  bed."     He  responds  :  "  He  who  has  cured  me  told 

\  me  to  do  so  ;  to  take  up  my  bed  and  walk."     They  ask  \ 

him  :  "  Who  told  thee  to  take  up  thy  bed  and  walk  ?  " 
But  this  man  did  not  know  who  was  his  benefactor, 
and  could  not  point  him  out,  because  Jesus  mingled 
among  the  throng. 

Even  when  we  do  not  know  the  Physician,  he  will 
reveal  himself  by  his  boundless  mercy  and  goodness,  as 
well  as  by  his  power.  This  infirm  man  is  the  human 
race.  He  suffers  for  thirty-eight  years.  This  number 
is  not  marked  out  without  a  purpose  :  two  great  inter- 
preters, St.  Augustine  and  the  Venerable  Bcde,  have 
studied  its  mystery.  Forty,  they  say,  made  up  of 
the  number  ten  four  times  repeated,  marks  the  perfec- 
tion of  the  law  in  all  its  works.  This  number  is  the 
symbol  of  a  holy  and  perfect  life  ;  for  the  just  observe 
with  exactness  the  ten  commandments  of  God,  repeat- 
ed in  the  four  books  of  the  Gospel  of  Christ.     But  one 


1 86  The  Life  of  oitr  Lord  Jesus  Christ. 

cannot  observe  the  divine  law  without  the  practice  of 
two  precepts  of  charity,  towards  God  and  towards  his 
neighbor;  and  where  this  twofold  love  is  wanting  the 
whole  perfection  of  the  law  is  broken,  although  man 
possesses  otherwise  the  knowledge  and  faith  of  it. 
This  is  why  this  number  thirty-eight — forty  less  two — 
demonstrates  to  us  that  the  infirm  man  at  the  pool  is 
an  image  of  guilty  and  suffering  humanity.  It  possess- 
es the  knowledge  of  the  law  of  God,  engraven  divinely 
on  the  hearts  of  all  men  ;  it  does  not  possess  the  two- 
fold love  by  which  alone  this  law  is  accomplished. 

Such  is  the  explanation  of  St.  Augustine,  developed 
by  Bede.  The  world  is  unaccustomed  to  these  kinds 
of  researches,  and  little  disposed  to  admit  their  results. 
Nevertheless,  no  sound  mind  will  deny  that  the  thirty- 
eight  years  cover  a  mystery,  and  will  not  disdain  a 
solution  which  such  men  have  proposed.  One  will 
more  easily  comprehend  the  preference  which  Jesus 
gave  to  the  infirm  man  at  the  pool  over  all  other 
sick  or  afflicted  persons  whom  he  could  have  cured. 
Thirty-eight  years  of  expectation  and  useless  efforts 
have  not  conquered  the  faith  of  this  man.  He  always 
hopes  ;  he  always  struggles  in  the  hope  of  being  cured. 
For  having  beforehand  put  in  practice  the  lesson  the 
Lord  will  give  later  on  perseverance  in  prayer,  he  is 
saved  by  a  miracle  greater  than  that  he  hoped  for. 
Jesus  at  first  asks  him  if  he  wishes  to  be  cured  ?  The 
physician  and  the  priest  ask  questions.  How  many 
implore  to  be  cured,  and  in  their  hearts  do  not  wish 
to  be  healed — that  is  to  say,  do  not  wish  to  do  what 
is  necessary  for  curing  them  !  This  sluggish  will  to 
avoid  being  healed  manifests  itself  especially  in  spiri- 
\  tual  matters.     "I  prayed,"  said  St.  Augustine,  "and 

X  I  was  afraid  I  would  be  heard  too  soon." 


The  Life  of  our  Lord  yes  us  Chris/.  187 

The  word  the  Lord  addresses  to  this  infirm  man 
warns  us  anxiously  to  desire  our  deliverance  from 
temporal  and  spiritual  infirmities  ;  for  every  word 
dropped  from  his  lips  is  addressed  to  every  man  in 
this  world.  Besides,  it  opens  up  to  the  infirm  man 
the  way  of  faith.  Jesus  does  not  require  an  act  of 
faith  from  this  infirm  man,  who  did  not  come  to  him, 
who  asked  nothing  of  him,  who  did  not  know  him  ;  but 
he  wishes  that  he  might  know  and  remember  that  he 
had  been  the  object  of  a  miracle,  so  that  his  soul  also 
might  be  healed  and  saved  by  faith. 

The  infirm  man  humbly  responds  as  a  man  who  has 
profited    by    his    sorrow.     He    murmurs    not,    accuses 


not  Providence,  and  doubts  not  of  the  virtue  of  the 
divine  remedy.  "  Lord,  I  have  no  man  to  help  me 
down  to  the  pool;  and -whilst  I  am  dragging  myself 
along  to  endeavor  to  plunge  in,  another  person  de- 
scends into  it  before  me.''  Here  there  is  no  com- 
plaint. Every  soul  that  Jesus  predestines  exhibits 
this  ground-work  of  righteousness,  humility,  and  great- 
ness. This  is  without  exception  in  the  Gospel.  Not- 
withstanding all  abjectness  and  humiliation,  in  spite 
of  all  stains,  the  divine  impress  remains  on  the  last 
drachma.  The  eye  of  God  only  can  discern  this  mark  ; 
he  recognizes  it,  and  there  is  no  mire  wherein  he  will 
not  thrust  his  hand  to  seize  his  property  and  his 
treasure.  He  will  go  to  Samaria  and  to  the  borders 
of  Tyre  and  Sidon  ;  he  will  go  among  the  publicans 
and  Pharisees  ;  he  will  even  go  down  to  hell,  where 
those  await  him  who,  overtaken  by  the  Deluge,  rais- 
ed their  eyes  to  heaven  and  confessed  that  they  sinned. 
Later,  we  will  see  his  grace  sometimes  penetrating 
like  the  morning  dew,  and  sometimes  like  the  im- 
petuous stroke  of  a  thunderbolt,  into  places   shut  and 


The  Life  of  our  Lord  Jesus   Christ. 


fortified  against  him.  He  does  not  disdain  to  stand 
by  the  criminal  on  the  scaffold,  nor  does  he  disdain 
to  enter  the  cabinet  of  the  learned,  nor  even — O  mir- 
acle ! — the  shameful  haunts  of  the  voluptuary  ;  he 
will  enter  wherever  a  tear,  a  sigh,  protests  against 
the  triumphs  of  Satan  and  says  to  him  :  "  I  have  no 
man  ;    come  assist  me." 

Jesus  said  to  the  infirm  man  :  "  Arise  " — that  is,  be 
healed.  These  words  give  power  and  force  to  the  in- 
firm man  which  he  had  not  before.  He  adds:  "  Take 
thy  bed  and  walk."  Two  commandments  addressed 
to  the  cured  man  to  prove  incontestably  a  miracle,  to 
convert  the  Jews,  and  to  strengthen  our  faith.  The 
human  family,  in  the  person  of  the  paralytic,  said  :  I 
have  no  one  ;  no  man  is  found.  Pilate  will  say  to  him  : 
Ecce  Homo — Behold  the  Man.  The  word  of  the  para- 
lytic prepares  the  word  of  Pilate,  and  both  these  mys- 
terious words  explain  one  another  in  all  their  wonder- 
ful mysteriousness.  It  is,  then,  the  whole  human  race 
Jesus  commands:  Arise,  get  ye  up,  my  people,  from 
your  prostrate  condition.  Now  you  are  making  an 
effort  to  get  out  of  the  mire  of  sin  wherein  you  wallow  ; 
you  have  only  to  will  to  accomplish  what  you  desire. 
The  pool  is  always  open  for  you,  the  water  always 
stirred,  and  every,  infirmity  of  the  soul  always  healed. 
Take  up  thy  bed!  The  bed  of  the  soul  is  the  body.  In 
this  corrupted  body  you  lie  ;  raise  it  up  from  the  earth, 
snatch  it  away  from  corruption.  By  the  grace  of  the 
sacraments  your  soul  is  the  mistress  of  your  body,  and 
you  can  bring  it  under  subjection.  "  Go  forth  !"  Re- 
move yourself  from  this  empoisoned  air  in  which  you 
sicken  ;  ascend  to  the  healthy  mountains  upwards  to 
heaven. 

The  paralytic  obeys.     The  Jews  interfere,  with  their 


r 


The  Life  of  our  Lord  Jésus  Christ.  189 


worldly  sneers:  "What  are  you  doing?  You  violate 
the  law."     "  I  only  do  what  I  was  commanded  ;  I  only  ( 

do  what  he  who  cured  me  told  me  to  do."  The  Jews 
insist.     They  ask  the  paralytic,  not  who  cured  him,  but  « 

who  told  him  to  take  his  bed  and  walk.  They  cared 
nothing  about  the  miracle,  and  were  not  anxious  to 
know  its  Author.  They  wish  only  to  know  who  had 
ordered  what  they  regarded  as  a  violation  of  the  Sab- 
bath. This  is  the  character  they  display  everywhere, 
as  faithful  to  themselves  as  Jesus  to  himself,  persever- 
ing in  their  justice  inspired  by  hatred,  as  he  is  per- 
severing in  mercy  inspired  by  love. 

The  paralytic  cannot  name  him  nor  point  him  out. 
He  does  not  know  Jesus,  and  Jesus  hides  himself 
among  the  crowd.  The  throng  is  clamorous,  says  a 
father;  Jesus  wishes  to  be  seen  in  secret.  Amid  the 
crowd  of  those  who  are  spiritually  sick,  figured  by  the 
infirmities  of  the  body,  among  sinners,  and  among  the 
wicked,  there  is  none  able  to  raise  himself  to  the  know- 
ledge of  God.  Nevertheless,  the  paralytic  knows  well 
who  had  cured  him.  Jesus  finds  him  in  the  Temple. 
This  fact  of  being  in  the  Temple  is  a  new  feature,  cre- 
ditable to  this  man.  Using  his  recovered  strength,  he 
does  not  go  to  mix  himself  up  in  the  affairs  and  plea- 
sures of  the  world  ;  he  goes  to  the  Temple.  Hereby  he 
merits  the  honor  to  behold  Jesus.  Jesus  says  to  him  : 
"  Sin  no  more,  lest  something  worse  happen  to  you." 

Therefore,  this  man's  infirmity  was  the  consequence 
of  his  sins.  Though  all  bodily  diseases  do  not  origi- 
nate from  sin,  says  St.  Chrysostom,  yet  sin  is  the  most 
general  cause  of  them.  God  punishes  the  body  with 
the  transgressions  of  the  soul  ;  so  that  the  infirmity  of 
the  body  may  make  us  reflect  on  that  of  the  soul,  which 
we  shamefully  abuse.      His   clemency  turns  the  affec- 


190  The  L;fe  of  our  Lord  yes  us   Christ. 

tions  of  the  flesh  to  the  advantage  of  the  spirit.  We 
fall  sick  only  by  the  dispensation  of  Providence,  often 
hidden,  always  useful,  never  unjust.  We  can  cure  our- 
selves more  surely  by  prayer  than  by  doctor's  medi- 
cines, whose  wisest  prescriptions  have  besides  for  their 
object  our  restoration,  at  least  materially,  as  regards 
the  law  of  God.  The  law  of  God  is  given  to  the  body 
as  well  as  to  the  soul  ;  to  fulfil  it  is  as  useful  to  the 
one  as  to  the  other.  What  we  take  from  the  body  we 
give  to  the  soul. 

The  warning  of  the  Lord  is  terrible  :  Take  care,  lest 
something  worse  happens  to  you.  This  sinner  passed 
thirty-eight  years,  almost  his  whole  life,  in  the  captivi- 
ty of  a  malady  more  dire  than  imprisonment.  What 
has  he  to  dread  worse  ?  Nothing  in  this  world  ;  every- 
thing in  the  other.  The  fathers  interpret  this  menace 
as  the  chastisements  of  the  future  life,  reserved  for  the 
obstinate  and  imprudent,  who  cease  only  to  sin  when 
they  cease  to  live.  The  longest  afflictions  of  this  life 
are  as  nothing  compared  to  the  eternal  punishments  in 
hell.  Enjoy  yourselves,  you  men  of  mind,  says  St. 
Chrysostom  ;  riot  in  all  sorts  of  dissipation,  let  go  the 
reins  of  your  passions,  plunge  into   every  vice,  whilst  \ 

you  are  here — you  who  do  not  admit  the  divine  justice 
could  punish  the  sins  of  a  moment  with  eternal  tor- 
ments. Had  this  sick  man  sinned  for  the  space  of  > 
thirty-eight  years,  since  he  was  to  be  punished  for  the 
space  of  thirty-eight  years?  He  had  committed  sins 
in  an  instant  ;  you  see  the  duration  of  his  punishment. 
The  world  does  the  same.  Homicide  is  the  crime  of 
an  instant  ;  the  punishment  is  perpetual.     But  why  do 

)  we  speak   of  the  crime   of  a  moment?     The  act  is  in-  (, 

)  ....  .  ( 

)  stantaneous.     The   intention   is  irrevocable.     The  sin- 

ner would  wish   to   live  always  to  sin  ;  always  sin  for- 

I 

) 


the  organ   he  holds  from  the  goodness  of  God  to  en 


The  Life  of  our  Lord  Jesus   Christ.  j  g  r 

sakes  him,  not  he  sin.  In  hell  the  desire  of  sinning  is 
inherent  in  the  sinner.  He  does  not  say  that  he  hates 
sin  ;  there  is  an  immense  difference  between  hating 
sin  and  doing  penance  for  it  for  salvation.  Repen- 
tance, contrition,  is  a  grace  which  makes  one  detest 
sin,  not  only  as  disastrous  and  deceitful,  but  as  offen- 
sive to  God.  This  grace  does  not  descend  to  the  eter- 
nal abyss  of  hell  ;  for  it  requires  the  beginning  of  love 
which  makes  penitents— a  love  impossible  to  the 
damned.  Sin  is  an  apostasy— a  voluntary  separation 
from  God.  If  man  dies  in  that  state  wherein  God  has 
not  placed  him,  he  remains  there,  because  he  finds  no 
means  of  reconciliation  but  in  the  Church  and  during 
life.  Apostasy  becomes  irrevocable;  the  apostate 
remains  there  irrevocably.  St.  Irenaeus  compares  the 
reprobate  to  a  man  who,  with  full  knowledge,  plucks 
out  his  eyes.  This  madman  remains  blind  for  ever— 
not  blind  for  the  want  of  light,  but  blinded  through 
himself,  having    been,  by  his    own   will,    deprived  of 


joy  light.  Such  is  the  dreadful  mystery  of  the  damned 
wishing  always  to  sin,  and  detesting  sin  ;  wishing  al- 
ways to  repent,  and  detesting  repentance;  irrevo- 
cably attached  by  his  will  to  all  that  his  will  detests  ; 
fixed  and  riveted  to  what  is  intolerable  ;  not  even  able 
to  imagine  a  state  he  would  wish  to  be  in,  nor  to  con- 
ceive anything  but  the  state  he  is  in.  For  if  he 
dreamed  only  of  another  state,  even  more  horrible, 
he  would  take  refuge  in  his  dream  and  esteem  himself 
happy.  "  There  will  be  weeping  and  gnashing  of 
teeth."  This  is  an  eternal  revolt  from  God,  an  eternal 
hatred  of  God,  an  eternal  writhing  and  torment  of  the 
soul;  this  is  an  immortal  and  eternal  sin,  a  punishment 
mortal  and  eternal. 


192  The  Life  of  oar  Lord  yes  it  s   Christ. 


As  the  grace  of  repentance,  and  the  beautiful  charac- 
ter of  the  sinner  penitent  and  pardoned,  appear  in  the 


j  paralytic,  so   the  character  of  the  reprobation  is  mahi- 

)  fested  among  the  Jews  who  surround  him.     This  infirm 

man  has  been  humbled  ;  he   is  found  at  the  Temple  ; 
,  and,  according  to  many  interpreters,  Jesus,  so  anxious 

not  to  discourage  the  sinner,  gave  him  this  severe  les- 
son only  because  he  found  in  him  a  soul  truly  patient 
and  a  docile  mind.  Indeed,  he  listens  respectfully, 
and  manifests  his  gratitude.  The  Jews  asked  him  who 
had  ordered  him  to  carry  his  bed  on  the  Sabbath — that 
is,  in  their  mind,  to  transgress  the  law.  This  was  the 
only  thing  they  wished  to  know.  As  soon  as  he  knows 
Jesus  he  goes  to  them,  not  to  say,  "  He  who  has 
ordered  me  to  carry  my  bed,"  but,  "  He  who  has  healed 
me  is  Jesus."  In  other  words,  according  to  the  divine 
signification,  He  who  has  cured  me  is  the  Saviour. 
They  denounce  him  as  a  criminal.  He  boldly  and 
fearlessly  confesses  the  truth.  He  is  not  slow,  says  St. 
Augustine,  to  publish  what  he  has  seen. 

But  the  Jews  continue  to  make  no  account  of  tlie 
miracle  nor  of  the  benefit,  and  only  adhere  to  what 
they  considered  as  a  transgression  of  the  Sabbath. 
They  saw  Jesus  showing  himself  on  all  occasions  a 
strict  observer  of  religion  ;  but  it  was  not  their  religion, 
for  their  religion  was  only  what  they  had  made  them- 
selves by  their  pride  and  self-interest.  They  think  of  j 
nothing  else  from  this  moment  but  to  put  him  to 
death,  and  begin  to  persecute  him,  publishing  every- 
where that  Jesus  of  Nazareth  violated  the  law  of  the 
Lord.                                                                                                         ( 

Jesus  replies  to  them  :  "  Up  to  this  moment  my 
Father  has  not  ceased  to  act,  nor  have  I  myself  ceased 
to  act."     By  these  words  he  affirms  his  divinity.     God 

\  \ 

) 

) 


The  Life  of  our  Lord  yes// s  Christ.  193 

rested  on  the  seventh  day,  in  this  sense  only  :  that  he 
ceased  to  create.  He  did  not  cease,  nor  does  he  cease, 
to  act  lor  the  preservation  of  created  things.  In  call- 
ing God  his  Father,  and  establishing  his  unity  of  ope- 
ration   with     him,    Jesus    therefore     affirms,    declares. 


proves,  the  unity  of  the  divine  nature.  He  does  not 
call  himself  the  Son  by  adoption  only — what  the  Jews 
do  not  object  to — but  the  Son  by  generation.  He 
attributes  to  himself  the  divine  nature,  the  perfect 
equality  with  God. 

So  this  is  what  the  Jews  understood,  and  what  we 
are  absolutely  bound  to  understand,  like  them,  or  like 
them  also  accuse  Jesus  of  imposture,  and  consequently 
deny  the  divine  mission,  as  well  as  his  divinity.  For 
if  Jesus  Christ  is  not  God,  he  is  not  even  a  sincere 
man,  and  consequently  he  is  not  the  envoy  of  God. 
But  how  can  human  reason  prove  that  he  is  not  God, 
without  believing  Christ  Jesus  God — how  can  human 
reason  comprehend  the  New  Testament,  Christianity, 
God,  even  herself  ?  After  having  related  the  healing 
of  the  paralytic,  St.  John  narrates  the  discourse  by 
which  Jesus  establishes  the  consubstantiality  of  the 
Son  with  the  Father,  and  produces  to  the  Jews  un- 
doubted titles  of  his  mission.  Before  these  words, 
burning  with  a  divine  glow,  reason  bows  down;  she 
acknowledges  profoundly  the  master  of  life  and  death  : 
"Amen,  amen,  I  say  unto  you,  that  he  who  hearcth 
my  word,  and  bclieveth  him  that  sent  me,  hath  life 
everlasting;  and  cometh  not  into  judgment,  but  is 
passed  from  death  to  life.  Amen,  amen,  I  say  unto 
you,  that  the  hour  cometh,  and  now  is,  when  the  dead 
shall  hear  the  voice  of  the  Son  of  God,  and  they  that 
hear  shall  live.  For  as  the  Father  hath  life  in  himself; 
so  he  hath  given  to  the  Son  also  to  have  life  in  him- 


The  Life  of  our  Lord  ye  sit  s   Christ. 

self:  and  he  hath  given  him  power  to  do  judgment, 
because  he  is  the  Son  of  Man.  Wonder  not  at  this, 
for  the  hour  cometh  wherein  all  that  are  in  the  graves 
shall  hear  the  voice  of  the  Son  of  God.  And  they 
that  have  done  good  things,  shall  come  forth  unto  the 
resurrection  of  life  ;  but  they  that  have  done  evil,  unto 
the  resurrection  of  judgment."  But  "  the  Jews  were 
now  more  eager  to  put  him  to  death,  not  only  because 
he  violated  the  Sabbath,  but  because  he  said  God  was 
his  Father,  and    made  himself  equal  to  God." 

Jesus  detests  the  vices  of  the  Pharisees,  not  their 
persons.  He  accepts  the  invitation  to  dine  with  one 
of  them  called  Simon.  During  the  feast  a  woman 
enters  the  hall  carrying  a  vessel  of  alabaster  which 
contains  an  odoriferous  liquid.  She  was  called  Mag- 
dalene. She  was  a  sinner;  the  whole  town  knew  her 
wicked,  scandalous  life.  In  the  presence  of  the  in- 
vited guests  she  prostrates  herself  behind  Jesus,  bit- 
terly weeping  for  her  sins.  She  kisses  his  feet,  pour- 
ing on  them  her  perfumes,  mingled  with  her  tears,  and 
dries  them  with  her  hair. 

The  master  of  the  house,  seeing  the  action  of  Mag- 
dalene, is  astonished  that  Jesus  should  allow  her  so  to 
act.  He  thinks  within  himself  if  he  were  a  prophet 
he  should  know  the  character  of  this  woman,  that  she 
was  a  scandalous  sinner. 

Jesus  wishes  to  show  to  the  Pharisee  that  he  knew 
better  than  he  who  this  woman  was,  and  that  he 
knew  him  better  than  he  knew  himself.  "  Simon,  1 
have  something  to  say  to  you.  A  certain  creditor  had 
two  debtors.  One  owed  him  five  hundred  denarii,  the 
other  fifty;  and  as  neither  the  one  nor  the  other  had 
wherewith  to  pay,  he  remits  both  what  they  owed 
him.     Which  loved  him  the  more?" 


; — 

I 

The  Life  of  our  Lord  jfesus  Christ.  195 

"  According  to  my  opinion,"  answers  Simon,  "  he 
to  whom  the  most  was  remitted."  "You  judge 
rightly,"  replies  Jesus. 

Then,  turning  himself  toward  the  sinner,  but  con- 
tinuing to  speak  to  the  Pharisee  :  "  Do  you  see  this 
woman?     I   came  into  your  house.     You  prepared  no 


water  for  me  to  wash  my  feet  ;    this  woman  has  be- 
dewed them  with  her  tears,  and  has  dried  them  with 
her  hair.     You  did  not   give  me  a  kiss  ;  she,  since  she 
>  has    entered,  has    not   ceased    to    kiss    my  feet.     You 

have  not  poured  oil  on  my  head  ;  she  has  poured  out 
her  perfume  on  my  feet.  This  is  why  I  say  to  you 
her  many  sins  are  forgiven,  because  she  has  loved 
much.  But  he  to  whom  less  is  forgiven  loves  less." 
)  The  perfume  of  Magdalene  has  filled  all  earth  and 

{  times.     Accepted    by  Jesus,  it    has   become   even  the 

)  odor   of  Christ,  the  odor  of  infinite   clemency,  which 

{  attracts  to  eternal  life.     Magdalene  is  the  Saviour's  first 

penitent.     She  acknowledges  him  truly  the    Saviour, 
in  the   sense   that  he   was   "to   save   his   people  from 
their  sins";  she  implores  him  to  heal  her  perfectly  ; 
\  she  begs  of  him  to  heal  the  mortal  wounds  of  her  soul. 

She  makes  true  satisfaction  ;  she  satisfies  with  her 
tears  ;  she  pays  the  true  tribute — that  of  her  love. 
Jesus  decrees  to  her  a  glory  which  he  has  not  given 
to  any  other:  "She  loved  much."  This  is  a  word 
never  before  pronounced  in  the  world,  and  the 
world  never  imagined  anything  approaching  it  ;  it  re- 
mains in  the  world  more  powerful  over  hearts  than 
)  all   the  lights  of  reason,  than   the   books   of  morality,  < 

than  all  the  constraints  of  the  law. 

Jesus  then  says  to  this  great  sinner,  henceforth  the 
great  penitent:  "Your  sins  are  forgiven."  The  Phar- 
isees murmur,  as  the}-  did  at  Capharnaum  on   hearing 


( 
( 


196  The  Life  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Clirisi. 


the  same  language.  "  Who  is  this,"  they  say  among 
themselves,  "  who   even  pardons   sins  ?  "      The  world  \ 

in  such  a  case  does  not  permit  us  to  condemn,  nor 
does  it  permit  us  to  pardon.  It  permits  either  an 
infamous  indulgence  or  an  implacable  rigor.  God 
sees  the  repentance,  pardons  and  purifies. 

Without  replying  any  more  to  the  Pharisee,  Jesus 
says  to  Magdalene  :  "Your  faith  has  healed  you."  He 
does  not  say  to  her  what  he  said  to  the  paralytic,  what 
he  will  later  on  say  to  the  adulterous  woman  :  "  Sin  no 
more."  She  loves,  and  he  has  nothing  more  to  say  to 
her. 

This  sinful  woman  is  the  same  Magdalene  of  whom  it 
is  elsewhere  written  that  our  Lord  cast  out  from  her 
seven  devils  ;  she  is  also  the  same  person  known  as 
Mary  Magdalene,  sister  of  Martha  and  Lazarus,  of  whom 
Jesus  said  she  had  chosen  the  better  part.  She  will  be 
at  Calvary  at  the  side  of  the  blessed  Mother  of  Jesus 
and  St.  John — two  of  the  purest  vessels  of  virginity  ; 
she  will  be  there  as  the  reality  of  the  promises  of  the  im- 
mense mercy  of  which  Thamar  and  Rahab,  the  ances- 
tors of  the  Messias,  were  the  figures.  Exalted  by  grace, 
she  will  yet  have  the  glory  of  being  the  first  among  the 
disciples  who  will  see  Jesus  issuing  victorious  from  the 
tomb.  And  the  Church,  instructed  and  guided  by  the 
Holy  Ghost,  chants,  on  the  festival  of  the  Assumption 
of  the  Most  Holy  Virgin,  the  gospel  wherein  it  is  re- 
lated that  Mary,  seated  at  the  feet  of  the  Lord,  re- 
mains listening  to  him.  Such  is  this  woman — a  touch- 
ing and  sublime  type  among  so  many  others,  which 
Jesus  created  and  gave  to  the  earth  for  ever  by  mould- 
ing with  his  own  hands  and  with  his  own  blood  the 
slime  of  humanity. 

About    this    epoch  the    time    is    ended    which    St. 


"1 


The  Life  of  our  Lord  jfesus  Christ.  197 

Jerome  calls  the  year  of  peace,  the  sweet,  mild  year  of 
I  our  Lord  ;   for,  indeed,  Jesus  up  to  this  time  met  with 

but  little  contradiction,  and  was  almost  accepted  by 
the  world.  The  Pharisees  had  not  organized  their  re- 
sistance ;  the  people,  left  to  themselves,  received  with 
love  the  goodness  of  God. 

These  just  recitals  of  the    Gospel,  in  spite  of  their 
austerity,  excite  a  certain  feeling  of  divine  joy.     One 
I  breathes  in  them  the  sweet  fragrance  of  opening  day. 

It  seems  that  nature,  enriched  with  its  share  of  graces, 
should  appear  in  those  happy  moments  more  smiling, 
as  if  adorned  with  the  reflection  of  Eden.  There  was 
without  doubt  something  more  perfect  in  the  serenity 
of  those  nights  that  beheld  Jesus  praying  ;  in  the  clear- 
ness of  those  waters  which  bore  him  on  their  bosom; 
in  the  purity  of  that  air  which  received  his  breath.  If 
the  perfumes  of  Magdalene  made  fragrant  the  whole 
house  wherein  they  were  poured  out,  what  an  odor  of 
life  must  not  all  that  country  rejoice  in  which  was  filled 
with  the  breath  of  Jesus!  Do  penance,  for  the  king- 
dom of  God  is  at  hand  !  The  sweet,  mild  voice  of 
Jesus  repeats  and  confirms  this  cry  of  John  the  Baptist. 
At  the  same  time  the  divine  Master  spreads  abroad  the 
beauty  of  the  doctrine  and  the  abundance  of  miracles. 
Never  had  anything  like  this  been  presented  to  the  eyes 
or  hearts  of  men.  Nowhere  before  had  there  been  a 
question  of  the  proximity  of  heaven.  The  golden  age 
was  passed  ;  behold,  it  comes,  it  is  at  hand,  and  repen- 
tance is  a  tear  of  the  heart,  immediately  compensated 
by  the  fulness  of  love  in  the  truth  of  God. 


BOOK  III. 


THE  STRUGGLE. 


CHAPTER   I. 


CONSPIRACY  OF  THE  JEWS — MIRACLES  ON  THE  SAB- 
BATH DAY — INSTITUTION  OF  THE  APOSTLES — 
JUDAS. 

AFTER  Simon's  banquet  the  Pharisees  exert 
themselves  to  keep  a  watchful  eye  on  Jesus. 
Everywhere  he  goes  they  surround  him,  controlling  his 
actions  and  criminating  his  words,  making  an  effort  to 
avoid  the  truth.  One  day,  as  Jesus  passed  through  a 
field  of  wheat,  his  disciples,  feeling  the  pangs  of  hun- 
ger, plucked  a  few  heads  and  ate  them.  This  was  on 
the  Sabbath  day.  The  Pharisees  were  present.  They 
reprimanded  the  disciples  sharply,  and  said  to  the  Mas- 
ter :  "  See  how  your  followers  do  what  is  not  permit- 
ted on  the  Sabbath  day!  "  Jesus  responds  to  them 
that  the  priests  who  serve  the  Temple  violate  the  Sab- 
bath without  being  guilty.  He  recalled  to  their  me- 
mory David,  who  on  a  Sabbath  day  ate  the  loaves  of 
presence  placed  before  the  altar.  Accused  himself, 
he  does  not  vindicate  himself  by  alleging  the  continual 


The  Life  of  our  Lord  yes  us   CJirist.  199 

travail  for  his  Father.  When  the  question  arises  of 
excusing  his  disciples,  he  is  satisfied  with  producing 
the  example  of  David,  a  servant  like  themselves.  He 
declares  to  the  Pharisees  that  God  prefers  mercy  to 
sacrifice  ,  and  at  length,  to  give  them  a  knowledge  of  • 
the  law,  and  to  assert  anew  his  own  power,  he  adds: 
"  The  Sabbath  was  made  for  man,  not  man  for  the 
Sabbath  :  the  Son  of  Man  is  even  master  of  the  Sab- 
bath." St.  John  Chrysostom  remarks  that  in  this 
question  of  the  Sabbath,  which  so  often  presents  itself, 
Jesus  not  only  justifies  himself  as  regarded  his  di- 
vinity, but  also  as  regarded  his  humanity  alone. 
Sometimes  in  one  manner  and  sometimes  in  another 
he  takes  care  to  establish  both,  endeavoring  to  enforce 
the  mystery  of  his  humiliations  and  his  divine  dignity. 
The  Pharisees  could  oppose  nothing  to  this  sublime 
wisdom,  and  became  more  furious  on  that  account.  A 
little  while  after — it  was  on  the  Sabbath  day — Jesus 
enters  into  the  synagogue  to  teach  according  to  his 
custom.  They  demanded  of  him  if  he  believed  it 
lawful  to  heal  on  the  Sabbath  day;  for  they  had 
resolved  among  themselves  to  impute  to  him  as 
sinful  those  acts  of  mercy.  They  await  his  reply 
to  cry  out  scandal  or  to  force  him  to  contradict 
himself.  Jesus  knows  their  thoughts.  There  was 
a  man  seated  in  the  midst  of  the  assembly  whom 
he  commanded  to  rise,  and  this  man's  hand  was 
withered.  Then,  addressing  himself  to  the  Pharisees, 
he  demands  of  them  if  it  be  permitted  on  the  Sabbath 
day  to  do  good  or  evil,  to  save  life  or  to  destroy  it  (in 
not  saving  it  when  one  has  the  power  to  do  so).  They 
are  mute.  Jesus  proceeds  :  "  Is  there  any  one  among 
you  who,  having  but  one  sheep,  if  it  falls  in  the  pit  on 


the  Sabbath  day,  will  not  drag  it  out  ?"     And  how  far 


The  Life  of  our  Lord  Jesus   Christ. 

superior  and  more  excellent  is  man  to  the  sheep  !     He  ? 

is,  therefore,  allowed  and  permitted  by  the  law  to  do 
good  on  the  Sabbath  day.  They  continue  to  keep 
silence,  raging  with  spite.  Jesus,  afflicted  at  the  hard- 
ness of  their  hearts,  looks  on  them  with  indignation. 
Then  he  says  to  the  man  who  had  his  right  hand  with- 
ered :  "  Stretch  out  your  hand."  Forthwith  the  with- 
ered hand  becomes  sound  like  the  other. 

This  is  the  man  of  the  world.  His  left  hand,  the 
hand  of  carnal  works,  is  living,  active,  and  able.  His 
right  hand,  the  hand  of  holy  works,  remains  idle,  and 
becomes  withered.  If  you  wish  your  hand  to  be  heal- 
ed, extend  it,  apply  it  to  the  works  of  justice.  Open  it 
to  the  poor.  Let  charity  distribute  what  avarice  and 
fraud  have  amassed. 

)  The  Pharisees  go  away  and  deliberate  with  the   He- 

rodians  on  the  means  of  destroying  Jesus.  The  Hc- 
rodians  were  of  the  Sadducees,  infidel  in  religion,  abso- 
lute in  politics,  partisans  of  Herod  and  the  Romans, 

)  whom   the  Pharisees  detested.     The  riçorists  and  the 

corrupt,  hitherto  enemies,  commenced  to  agree  toge- 
ther against  the  Just.  This  is  the  future  history  of 
religion.      The  sects  and  the  impious  always  and  every- 

\  where  have  ended  by  coming  to  a  mutual  understand- 

(  ing  to  oppress  the  Church.     But  means  are  required. 

Herod  had  not  yet  dared  to  kill  John  the  Baptist,  be- 


cause  of  the  people.  The  Pharisees  seek  a  pious  pre- 
text to  put  Jesus  to  death.  He  proves  and  believes  it 
permissible  and  lawful  to  perform  miracles  on  the  Sab- 
bath day  ;  but  he  only  has  employed  his  word  for  that 
purpose.  "  Was  he  forbidden  to  speak  on  the  Sab- 
bath day,  or  was  he  bound  to  exclude  from  the  number 
of  works  permitted,  those  which  healed  the  sick?" 
The  conspiracy,  so  visibly  formed,  attests  the  veracity 


T/ie  LJfe  of  our  Lord  ye  su  s   C/nisf.  201 

of  the  Gospel  history.  The  two  cardinal  points  of 
accusation  against  our  Lord  are  that  he  called  himself 
the  Son  of  God,  equal  to  God,  and  that  he  violated  the 
Sabbath  day.  But  he  has  never  violated  the  Sabbath, 
except  by  performing  miracles. 

But  the  hour  had  not  come,  and  Jesus  gives  them 
time  to  deliberate  against  him.  He  retires  towards  the 
sea.  A  mighty  throng  of  people  follows  him  from  Jeru- 
salem and  the  various  countries  of  Palestine.  Tyre  and 
Sidon  flock  together  after  him.  The  sick  and  infirm  arc 
carried  and  laid  at  his  feet.  He  heals  them  all.  The 
demons  who  torment  the  possessed  prostrate  themselves 
before  him,  and  cry  out:  "You  are  the  Son  of  God." 
This  testimony,  coming  from  his  declared  enemies,  proves 
his  divinity.  The  prophecy  receives  its  accomplishment 
in  the  full  light  of  day  :  "  Behold  my  Servant  whom  I 
have  chosen,  my  Well  Beloved.  I  will  pour  out  my 
Spirit  on  him,  and  he  will  announce  justice  to  the  na- 
tions. He  will  not  contest,  nor  will  he  repine  ;  nobody 
will  hear  him  breaking  out  in  high  places  in  complaints  ; 
he  will  not  trample  on  the  bruised  reed,  and  he  will  not 
extinguish  the  lamp  that  yet  burns,  until  he  causes 
justice  to  triumph;  and  it  is  in  them  the  people  will  be 
saved." 

His  tender  compassion  for  the  present  and  future 
miseries  which  he  healed,  and  the  necessity  of  divulg- 
ing his  mission,  were  not  the  only  causes  that  caused 
him  to  multiply  miracles.  He  wished  to  confirm  the 
faith  of  his  disciples.  The  moment  had  come  to  in- 
stitute the  Apostolic  College,  which  existed  in  germ 
since  the  first  calling  of  Peter.  Jesus  could  himself 
alone  convert  the  world  ;  but  since  he  had  united  him- 
self with  human  nature,  he  could  not  confer  a  greater 
honor  on  it  than  associating  it  in  the  work  of  salvation. 


202  The  Life  of  our  Lord  jf  esus  Christ. 

Therefore,  after  having  passed  the  night  in  prayer, 
so  that  the  Church  may  well  comprehend  how  im- 
portant it  is  for  her  to  be  aided  by  the  Holy  Ghost  in 
the  election  of  her  ministers,  he  calls  the  disciples,  and 
chooses  twelve  from  among  them,  for  the  purpose  of 
sending  them  over  the  world  to  preach  his  Gospel.  He 
gave  them  the  name  of  apostles — which  signifies  sent 
or  envoys  of  God — with  the  power  to  cure  the  sick,  and 
to  have  power  over  and  cast  out  devils.  Here  are  the 
names  of  the  twelve  :  Simon,  to  whom  Jesus  had  given 
the  name  of  Peter  ;  James,  son  of  Zebedee  ;  John, 
brother  of  James  ;  Andrew,  brother  of  Peter  ;  Philip  ; 
Bartholomew;  Matthew,  the  publican;  Thomas;  James, 
son  of  Alpheus  ;  Jude,  his  brother,  called  Thaddeus; 
Simon,  of  Cana  ;  Judas  the  Iscariot,  who  betrayed 
Jesus. 

It  is  believed  that  Bartholomew  is  the  same  as 
Nathanael,  who  appears  at  the  first  calling,  brought  by 
Philip.  James  and  Jude,  or  Thaddeus,  sons  of  Al- 
pheus, are  children  of  Mary,  wife  of  Alpheus,  or 
Cleophas,  and  sister  of  the  Blessed  Virgin. 

The  Evangelists  do  not  assign  all  of  them  the  same 
rank.  St.  Matthew  puts  Andrew  immediately  after 
Peter,  and  he  places  himself  after  Thomas,  whilst 
the  others  place  him  before.  Peter  is  always  the  first, 
and  Judas  the  Iscariot  the  last. 

We  find  in  the  fathers  divers  interpretations  of  the 
name  of  each  apostle,  having  relation  to  some  sym- 
bolical trait  of  their  vocation.  The  surname  of  chil- 
dren of  thunder  may  signalize  the  ambition  of  the 
children  of  Zebedee,  who  wished  to  elevate  them- 
selves above  others.  This  term,  applied  to  John,  an- 
nounces the  future  author  of  the  Apocalypse  and  of  the 
Gospel  of  the  Word.      Apropos  of  Peter  interpreters 


The  Life  of  our  Lord  j'esus  Christ.  203 

apply  the  words  of  St.  Paul:  "The  Rock  was  Christ." 
As  to  the  number  of  twelve,  it  is  predicted  and  typified 
many  times  in  the  books  of  the  Old  Testament.  If 
we  regard  them,  says  Rodolfus,  as  the  Christian  fa- 
thers, we  will  find  them  with  twelve  patriarchs,  fathers 
of  God's  people.  When  they  irrigate  the  world  with 
the  abundant  waters  of  doctrine,  they  resemble  the 
sources  of  living  water  which  flow  miraculously 
from  the  Rock  of  Elim.  When  they  ornament  the 
Church  with  the  splendor  of  their  virtues,  they  are  the 
twelve  precious  stones  that  decorate  the  pectoral  of 
the  high-priest.  When  they  nourish  souls  with  the 
Word  of  Life,  they  are  the  twelve  consecrated  loaves 
placed  before  the  altar  of  the  Lord.  When  they  pene- 
trate the  divine  secrets,  which  they  communicate  to 
the  faithful,  they  are  the  twelve  spies  whom  Moses 
sent  into  the  promised  land,  and  who,  at  their  return, 
gave  the  people  so  glowing  a  description  of  it.     They  ( 

are  also  the  twelve  stones  set  up  in  the  running  stream 
of  the  Jordan,  against  which  the  billows  of  the  age  arc 
dashed  to  pieces  ;   they  are  the  twelve  young  lions  of  .  ( 

the  throne  of  Solomon,  the  twelve  pillars  of  the  altar 
of  the  Jehovah,  the  twelve  oxen  that  bear  up  the 
molten  sea,  typified  by  the  baptism  wherein  every 
stain  is  washed  away.  They  are  the  twelve  gates  of 
the  heavenly  Jerusalem,  the  twelve  unshaken,  immov- 
able foundations  of  its  holy  walls,  and  especially  they 
are   the  twelve  brilliant  stars  which  encircle  and  form 


the  eternal  crown  of  the  well-beloved  Spouse. 

The  title  alone  of  apostle  recalls  the  miracle  of  miracles. 
St.  Paul,  who  received  it  from  Jesus  Christ,  risen  from 
the  dead,  insists  on  the  wonder  of  which  he  himself 
is  the  most  wonderful  instrument  :  "  Wonderful  work! 
God  converted  the  world,  not  by  the  art  of.  human  wis- 


204  The  Life  of  our  Lord  yes  us  Christ. 

dom,  but  by  the  simple  manifestation  of  his  doctrine, 
which  is  spirit  and  truth.  He  has  not  taken  advantage 
of  the  learned,  according  to  the  flesh,  nor  of  the 
powerful,  nor  of  the  noble,  to  establish  his  Gospel  ;  but 
he  has  chosen  a  few  men,  the  most  impotent,  the  weak- 

<  est,  the   most   illiterate,  to   confound  the   strong.     He 

made  use  of  what  was  nothing  to  destroy  what  was,  so 
that  none  might  glorify  himself  in  having  succeeded  in 
so  great  an  enterprise,  but  that  all  might  be  attributed 

\  to  the  power  of  God." 

The  apostles,  then,  were  all  poor  boatmen  and  sin- 
ners, people  of  low  extraction.  Judas  was  the  only 
Jew  ;  the  eleven  others  were  Galileans.  The  proverb 
says  :  The  Galileans  love  honor,  the  Jews  gold. 

Judas  was  charged  with  the  common  purse.  It  is 
believed  he  came  from  the  town  of  Karioth,  situated 
on   the   confines  of   the  Dead   Sea — a  miserable  place, 

)  whose  name  indicates  many  sinister  significations.     Is- 

)  cariot  :  the  man   of  Karioth,  the  man  with  the  purse, 

the  man  addicted  to  usury,  the  man   of  murderous  in- 

]  tent,  the  traitor.     Why  did  our  divine  Lord,  cognizant 

of  all  things,  past  and  future,  and  who  reads  the  inner- 

(  most  thoughts   of  the  soul,  admit   this  miserable  man 

among  his   apostles?     There  are  many  reasons  for   it, 

all   of  çreat  instruction.     Our  Lord  wishes  to  do  him 

a  favor;  he  does  not  desire  to  take  away  from  him  the 
>  .  . 

liberty  of  making  a  bad  use  of  it,  rendering  himself 

more  guilty  by  slighting  it.  It  was  by  his  will  alone 
Tudas  becomes  guilty,  just  as  he  might  become  a  saint 
y  the  right  exercise  of  his  will.  His  fall  teaches  us 
with  what  fear  and  with  what  vigilance  man  must  al- 
ways labor  to  be  saved.  On  the  other  hand,  it  is  cer- 
tain that  Judas,  when  he  preached  by  virtue  of  the 
)  choice  of  Jesus  Christ,  was  as  privileged  to  be  heard 


> 

The  Life  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ.  205 

as  St.  Peter;  hence  \vc  learn  that  the  ministry  is  inde- 
pendent of  the  pastor,  and  that  we  ought  to  respect 
the  pastors  in  the  exercise  of  the  mission  they  lawfully 
have  received,  leaving  them  to  answer  before  God  for 
their  personal  unworthiness.  Thus  Judas  is  a  great 
witness  of  this.  By  the  crime  of  his  betrayal  he  ac- 
complishes and  fulfils  the  prophecies  ;  by  the  crime  of 
his  death  he  attests  the  innocence  of  Jesus.  Incredu- 
lity has  well  understood  this,  and  has  insinuated  that 
perhaps  Judas  did  not  commit  suicide.  If  he  had  had 
any  testimony  to  render  against  his  Master,  he  would 
have  lived  ;  if  he  had  lived,  we  would  have  known 
him.  Nor  would  the  synagogue  wish  to  leave  him  in 
the  shade,  nor  the  Church  consent  to  let  him  fall  into 
despair;  either  the  Pharisees  would  have  made  him 
write,  or  the  apostles  would  have  made  him  weep. 

St.  Augustine  adds  that  the  Lord  having  taken  upon 
him  our  human  frailty,  he  did  not  wish  to  refuse  this 
bitter  destiny  of  human  infirmity,  to  be  betrayed  by 
his  apostle.  It  is  not  only  in  the  time  of  his  Passion 
he  is  obliged  to  give  us  an  example  of  patience  in 
the  crudest  torments.  He  gives  himself  up,  bearing 
with  Judas'  perfidy,  so  that  every  one  may  learn  to  bear 
with  moderation  an  error  of  judgment  and  contempt 
of  benefits  conferred. 


ISsffÉ 

»iBBp^P^'v^VvS 

y#*5**  ïiïlaSa 

CHAPTER  II. 

SERMON  ON  THE  MOUNT — THE  LEPER  HEALED — THE 
CENTURION — THE  WIDOW'S  SON — THE  ENVOYS 
OF   JOHN   THE   BAPTIST — THE   PHARISEES. 

ABOUT  the  time  of  the  institution  of  the  Apostolic 
College — a  few  days  before,  or  a  few  days  after, 
or  the  very  same  day — Jesus  delivers  his  sermon  on  the 
mount.  He  addressed  it  principally  to  his  disciples, 
but  making  himself  heard  by  the  multitude.  This  dis- 
course contains  the  whole  morality  of  Christianity. 
The  Saviour  prophesies  in  it  the  destiny  of  the  Church  ; 
and  by  traits  full  of  majesty  and  empire  he  takes  pos- 
session of  the  future  world.  It  is  enough  to  notice 
here  what  belongs  more  to -history  and  to  the  character 
of  the  Man-God. 

Listen,  then,  to  what  he  says  to  those  men  of  low 
extraction  and  humble  parentage — men  without  name, 
without  fortune,  without  education — who  are  grouped 
around  him  in  little  circles,  on  some  mound  of  earth, 
on  some  unknown  hillock,  in  a  tributary  province. 
He  proclaimed  the  beatitude  of  the  poor,  of  the 
meek,  of  the  afflicted,  of  the  oppressed,  of  the  merci- 
ful. He  adds  :  "  You  will  be  happy  when  men  will 
heap  on  you  opprobrium  and  all  manner  of  insults  on 
account  of  me  and  the  doctrine  I  preach  to  you  ;  they 

will  persecute  you  ;  they  will  say  all  sorts  of  evil  about 

206 


The  Life  of  out  Lord  jfesus  Christ.  207 

you  contrary  to  the  truth.  Rejoice  and  give  vent  to 
your  joy,  because  the  reward  that  awaits  you  in  heaven 
is  very  great.  You  arc  the  salt  of  the  earth  ;  you  arc 
the  light  of  the  world."  But  what  kind  of  light  should 
they  carry?  The  truth  that  he  reveals,  which  surpass- 
es all  comprehension,  which  absolutely  requires  faith. 
And  what  is  the  salt  they  must  spread  over  the  earth? 
A  morality  which  he  imposes,  and  which  he  makes  in- 
comparably severer  than  all  the  duties,  the  yoke  of 
which  the  most  part  of  men  find  already  too  heavy. 

"  You  have  learned  that  it  has  been  said  to  your 
forefathers,  You  shall  not  kill  ;  but  for  my  part  I  say 
to  you,  whosoever  is  angry  with  his  brother  merits  to 
be  condemned.^  .  .  .  You  have  learned  that  it  has 
been  said  to  vour  ancestors,    You    shall    not    commit 


adultery  ;    I  say  to  you  that  whosoever  looks  on  a  wo- 


man with  lustful  eyes  has  already  committed   adultery 
\  in  his  heart.     It  has  been  said,  Whosoever  puts  away 


his  wife,  let  him   give  her  a  bill  of  divorce  ;    but   I,  of 

)  my  own  authority,  say  to  you   that  whosoever  will  put 

\  .... 

\  away  his  wife,  if  it  be  not  on  account  of  adultery,  ex- 

poses her  to  commit  adultery  ;  and  that  he  who  marries 
her  after  that  her  husband  has  put  her  away  commits 
adulter}-." 

Three  times  he  repeats  this  all-powerful,  sovereign 
expression.  Ego  autem  dico  vobis — But  I  say  to 
YOU.  The  history  of  Christianity,  from  the  first  to 
the  last  page,  is  but  the  history  of  the  triumph  of 
these  few  words  ;  by  their  force  and  character,  which 
would  seem  to  indicate  more  of  defeat  than  vic- 
tory,   this    triumph    continually    surrounds    with    the 


to   impose  it  on  the  world,  and  who  has  known  how 
the  world   should   submit   to   it.      If   Jesus   Christ  had 


; 
( 

radiancy  of  the    Divinity  the  Man    who    has    wished 


2o8  The  Life  of  our  Lord  ye  su  s  Christ. 

ended    his  divine    mission    on    Calvary,   if    his    graces 

had   ceased  to  flow  thenceforth,  he  would   only   be   a 

sublime   madman  ;  astonished  reason  would  ask  itself 

how  this  man  of  miracles,  this  model  of  all  wisdom, 

of  all    justice,  and  of  all  truth,  could   have    believed 

himself  God. 

It  Avas  in  the  sermon  on  the  mount  that  he  taught 
) 

and,  we  might   say,  created  prayer  ;  for  few  men  had 

till  then  truly  prayed,  not    truly  knowing   who   God 

was,  nor  what  man  was,  nor  what  man  ought  to  ask  of 

God.     From   the  lips  of  the  Man-God  went   forth  to 

resound   eternally  the   common  prayer  of  the   human 

race — that  short  but  significant  demand,  the  two  first 

words    of   which    consecrate  the  brotherhood  of   men 

in  the  paternity  of  God  :   Our  Father  ! 

As  Jesus  descends  from  the  mount  a  leper  comes  to 
him  ;  bending  the  knee,  he  says  to  him  :  "  Lord,  if  you 
wish,  you  can  heal  me."  Jesus  commiserates  his  forlorn, 
helpless  condition.  He  stretches  out.  his  hand,  touches 
him,  and  says:  "I  will:  be  thou  healed."  Forthwith 
the  leprosy  of  this  man  disappears.  The  touch  of  the 
leper  renders  one  defiled  ;  nevertheless,  Jesus  touches 
him,  and,  putting  himself  above,  beyond,  and  superior 
to  the  legal  observances,  demonstrates  that  charity 
abolishes  them.  Other  diseased,  infirm  persons  were 
continually  brought  to  him,  and  he  healed  them  all. 

The  leper  who  comes  to  Jesus,  or  rather  towards 
whom  Jesus  descends,  is  the  human  race  in  the  state 
in  which  the  divine  Word  finds  them  when  he  humbles 
\  himself  by  coming  down  from  his  glory  in  heaven  and 

assuming  our  nature.  He  is  the  man  who  has  not  re- 
ceived or  who  has  lost  the  gift  of  God.  The  leper,  in 
the  language  of  the  Scripture,  is  the  type  or  figure, 
the  very  name,  of  sin.     Inherited  by  blood,  it  is  origi- 


The  Life  of  our  Lord  yes  us  Christ.  209 

nal  sin  ;  contagious,  it  is  actual  sin.  It  burns,  inflames 
like  envy,  it  withers  up  like  avarice,  it  inflates  like 
pride,  it  enervates  and  destroys  like  sloth  ;  it  corrupts, 
it  devours;  it  spreads  infection  and  horror.  Like  the 
leper,  man,  a  prey  to  every  vice,  is  separated  not  only 
from  God  and  the  angels,  but  from  men.  The)'  fly 
from  him,  they  exclude  him  from  society.  The  con- 
demned of  human  justice,  like  the  lepers,  formerly 
wore  a  particular  dress.  The  bagnios  or  prisons  are 
the  lazar-houses  of  sin.  Human  law,  impotent  like  the 
Old  Law,  excommunicates  by  excluding  from  society 
those  miserable  wretches.  It  enchains  its  lepers  ;  it 
does  not  pretend  or  undertake  to  heal  them.     There 


1  are   many  among    them    whom    it    declares    incurable. 

There  are  main-  among  them  it  kills.  So  Jesus  goes 
towards  those,  and  many  of  them  say  to  him  :  "  Lord, 
if  you  wish,  j'ou  can  heal  me."  He  wishes  it,  and  he 
cures  them;  and  if  all  would  say  to  him,  Ileal  us! 
all  would  be  healed. 

However,  he  seeks  solitude  to  pray  ;  but  charity  or 
love  leads  him  back  among  the  mighty  throng  implor- 
ing his  aid.      Having  returned  to  Capharnaum,  the  chief 

J  men  of  the  town  entreat  him  to  come  to  the  house  of 

a  centurion  to  cure  his  servant,  dangerously  sick.    Jesus 

)  answers   them  :  "  I  will  go   and  cure  him."     He   sets 

)  out   on   his   way  to  perform  acts   of  mercy — the   only 

Son  of  the  living  God  goes  to  cure  a  poor  invalid  in 
the  service  of  a  stranger.  The  centurion,  notified  of 
his  approach,  says  to  him,  or  causes  to  be  said  to  him  : 
"  Lord,  I  am  not  worthy  you   should  enter    into  my 

,  house  ;  but  say  only  this  word,  and  my  servant  shall  be 

cured."  Jesus,  admiring  this  language,  declares  that  he 
had  not  found  so  much  faith  in  Israel.  He  announces 
the  conversion  of  the  Gentiles  and  the  reprobation  of 


I 


The  Life  of  our  Lord  yesus  Christ. 


the  Jews  :  "  Many  will  come  from  the  east  and  from 
the  west,  and  will  be  placed  at  the  feast  with  Abra- 
ham, Isaac,  and  Jacob  ;  but  the  children  of  the  king-  / 
dom  shall  be  cast  into  darkness."  Then  he  says  to 
the  centurion  :  "  Go,  and  be  it  done  to  you  according  \ 
to  what  you  have  believed."  At  the  same  hour  the 
servant  was  healed.  \ 

The  Gospel  makes  mention  of  three  soldiers  to 
whom  the  gift  of  faith  was  given  :  he  whose  son  our 
Lord  had  cured,  this  one,  and  he  who  presided  at  Cal- 
vary. Further,  tradition  states  that  the  soldier  who 
pierced  the  side  of  the  crucified  Saviour  was  converted. 
It  is  believed  he  it  is  whom  the  Church  honors  under  the 
name  of  St.  Longinus.  Cornelius  was  the  first  Gentile 
whom  St.  Peter  received  into  the  Church.  The  sol- 
diers are  seen  flocking  to  the  preaching  and  the  bap- 
tism of  John  the  Baptist.  The  profession  of  arms,  the 
profession  of  obedience,  of  devotedness,  and  of  sacrifice,  ( 

arouses  in  the  hearts  of  men  certain  dispositions  which 
lead  them  to  God.  Christianity  causes  them  to  enter- 
tain sentiments  of  humanity,  of  which  they  were  ig- 
norant ;  it  elevates  and  ennobles  their  profession, 
raises  it  to  an  honor  it  never  could  have  attained  with- 
out religious  influence,  and  which  it  loses  at  once  when 
that  influence  departs  from  it. 

After  this  Jesus   proceeds  to  the  city  called  Nairn.  i 

As  he  drew  near  to  its  gates  he  meets  with  a  sad  and 
mournful  multitude  ;  they  are  carrying  to  the  grave  a 
widow's  only  son.  The  poor,  heart-broken  mother 
was  there.  He  says  to  her,  "Weep  not."  And, 
touching  the  bier,  he  says  to  the  dead  man  :  "  Arise  !  " 
And  he  that  was  dead  arose,  seated  himself,  and  be- 
gan to  speak  ;  and  Jesus  gave  him  over  to  his  mother. 
This  is  the   second    resurrection    mentioned   in  the 


) 
) 

The  Life  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ.  211 

Gospel  ;  and  there  will  be  a  third.  Each  one  has  its  dif- 
ferent signification,  which  will  be  explained  further  on. 
The  noise  of  these  miracles  resounded  throughout 
all  Israel.  John  the  Baptist  hears  them  spoken  of  i.i 
prison,  where  Herod  Antipas  held  him  captive,  without 
preventing  him  from  seeing,  at  least  sometimes,  some 
of  his  disciples  ;  and,  though  captive,  he  continued  to 
announce  the  Messias.  What  he  knew  of  Jesus  did 
not  allow  him  to  be  unmindful  of  him  ;  but  his  disci- 
j  pies,  as   it   often   happens,  neither  understood  well  his 

lessons   nor  his  true  greatness.      Seeing  Jesus  elevat- 
ing  himself  far  above   their  master,  they   conceive   a 
)  jealousy    of    him    which    leads    them    to    incredulity. 

Through   a  false   zeal   for  John   they  refuse  his  testi- 
mony.    The   Precursor  wisely  wishes  that  they  should 
\  use  the  testimony  of  their  own  eyes.       For  this  reason 

)  he  sends  two  of  the  most  obstinate  to  Jesus,  and  they 

s  demand  of  him  on  the  part  of  John  :    "  Art  thou  he 

who  was  to  come,  or  are  we  to  expect  another?  "  Are 
you  the  person  predicted  by  the  prophets  ?  The  re- 
sponse of  Jesus  was  divine.  At  that  very  moment  he 
cures  a  vast  number  of  diseased  and  infirm  and  pos- 
sessed persons  who  encompassed  him.  Forthwith  ad- 
dressing himself  to  the  disciples  of  John  the  Baptist: 
"  Go,  tell  John  what  you  have  seen.  The  blind  see, 
the  lame  wall;,  the  lepers  are  cleansed,  the  deaf  hear, 
the  dead  come  to  life  again,  and  the  Gospel  is  preached 
to  the  poor;  and  happy  are  those  who  shall  not  be 
scandalized  in  me" — words  clearly  referring  to  those  of 
Isaias,  announcing  that  when  the  Messias  should  come 


on  earth  the  lame  would  bound  forth  like  the  deer, 
the  tongue  of  the  mute  would  be  loosened,  and  the 
ears  of  the  deaf  and  the  eyes  of  the  blind  would  be 
opened.     Thus  the  disciples  of  John  received  a  double 


212 


The  Life  of  our  Lord  .yesus  Christ. 


proof:  the  one  of  miracles,  the  other  the  fulfilling  of 
the  prophecies.  Forthwith  Jesus  eulogizes  John,  pro- 
claiming his  firmness,  his  austere  life,  and  his  rank 
among  the  prophets:  "Yea,  more  than  a  prophet.  Of 
him  it  is  written,  Behold  I  send  before  you  my  angel, 
who  will  prepare  the  way  for  you.  And  I  say  to  you 
truly,  Among  children  born  of  women,  there  is  none 
greater  than  John  the  Baptist." 

The  death  of  the  Precursor  occurred  a  little  while 
after.  Herod,  who  kept  him  under  his  own  eye  for  a 
whole  year  in  his  house,  where  he  celebrated  his  inces- 
tuous marriage  with  his  brother's  wife,  gave  his  head 
to  a  daughter  of  this  Herodias,  as  a  recompense  for 
having  danced  before  him  at  the  winding-up  of  the 
feast.  It  was  the  custom  among  women  of  high  rank 
to  dance,  in  imitation  of  the  two  celebrated  buffoons 
and  mimics,  Pylades  and  Bathyllus,  whom  Rome  ad- 
mired. Such  were  the  king  and  potentates  of  the 
world  at  the  epoch  of  Jesus  Christ. 

However,  Jesus  went  through  cities,  towns,  and  vil- 
lages,, announcing  the  kingdom  of  God.  The  twelve 
apostles  accompany  him,  forming  themselves  on  this 
divine  Model  for  the  ministry  yet  unknown,  and  which 
they  must  one  day  fulfil.  There  were  in  his  train  of 
followers,  as  custom  allowed  it,  some  women  already 
cured  of  diseases  or  delivered  from  wicked  spirits. 
They  were  Mary  Magdalene;  Joanna,  wife  of  Chusa, 
Herod's  steward  ;  Susanna,  and  many  others.  They 
assisted  our  Lord  with  their  means.  He,  therefore, 
received  rich  persons  among  his  friends  ;  and  the  Gos- 
pel, frequently  remarking  this  circumstance,  refutes  the 
error  of  those  who  would  wish  to  see  in  Jesus  a  sort  of 
leveller,  a  preacher  of  equality  of  possessions  and  con- 
ditions.   In  reality,  those  wealthy  persons  were  poor  of 


The  Life  of  out  Lord  ye  su  s  Christ.  213 

heart  ;  they  were  bound  to  be  so,  since  nobody  can 
serve  God  and  Mammon.  Jesus  teaches  them  the 
good  use  of  riches;  but  he  imposes  poverty  only  on 
those  whom  he  calls  to  the  ministry  of  the  Gospel. 

The  Pharisees  also  follow  him.  Mingling  in  the 
throng,  they  endeavor  to  corrupt  the  right  minds  of 
this  people,  who  could  neither  understand  Jesus  nor 
contemplate  his  miracles  without  acknowledging  him 
the  envoy  of  God.  Often,  when  he  had  entered  a 
house  to  take  a  little  repose,  so  many  flocked  about 
him  he  could  not  cat  bread.  They  conduct  him  to  the 
sick  ;  the  sick  are  cured,  and  the  people  exclaim  :  "  Is 
not  this  the  Son  of  David  ?  "  This  popular  enthusiasm 
increases  the  hatred  of  the  Pharisees.  Unable  to 
deny  the  miracles,  they  begin  saying  that  Jesus  expels 
demons  by  the  aid  of  demons.  Others  demand  of 
him  to  perform  some  prodigy  in  the  heavens.  One 
day  he  assembled  them,  and  pointed  out  to  them  the 
absurdity  of  this  reproach  ;  for  the  demon  never  acts 
against  himself,  and  it  is  not  in  the  name  of  Satan 
one  can  cast  out  Satan.  He  adds,  "If  it  be  by  the 
Spirit  of  God  I  cast  out  Satan,  the  kingdom  of  God 
has  come  without  doubt."  But  these  sages  did  not 
wish  to  be  converted.  He  sees  their  obstinacy,  weeps 
for  them,  and  is  obliged  to  condemn  them  :  "  I  say  to 
you,  every  sin  and  every  blasphemy  shall  be  pardoned 
unto  men  (on  sincere  repentance),  but  the  sin  against 
the  Holy  Ghost  shall  not  be  forgiven.  And  whosoever 
shall  have  spoken  against  the  Son  of  Man,  he  shall  be 
pardoned  for  it  ;  but  he  who  will  have  spoken  against 
the  Holy  Ghost,  it  shall  not  be  forgiven  him,  neither  in 
this  world  nor  the  next."  This  he  says,  remarks  the 
Gospel,  "  because  they  accuse  him  of  being  possessed 
of  an  unclean  spirit  " — that  is,  the  spirit  of  deceit,  of 


The  Life  of  our  Lord  yesus  Christ, 

lying,  which  is  the  proper  name  of  Satan.  He  that 
hath  ears,  let  him  hear. 

He  refuses  those  who  demand  of  him  to  work  won- 
ders in  the  heavens,  as  he  had  refused  Satan,  who  dared 
to  tempt  him  in  the  desert.  At  the  same  time  he 
announces  to  them  a  miracle  which  they  did  not  de- 
mand, more  wondrous  than  any — that  of  his  resurrec- 
tion. This  is  a  wicked  race.  "  They  ask  a  sign,  and 
no  other  will  be  given  to  them  than  that  of  Jonas  the 
prophet.  For  as  Jonas  was  three  days  and  three  nights 
in  the  whale's  belly,  so  shall  the  Son  of  Man  be  three 
days  and  three  nights  in  the  womb  of  the  earth." 

As  he  finished  speaking,  a  woman,  raising  her  voice 
in  the  midst  of  the  multitude,  cries  out,  "  Blessed  is 
the  womb  that  bore  thee,  and  blessed  are  the  paps 
that  gave  thee  suck."  "  Rather  say,"  replies  Jesus, 
"  blessed  are  those  who  hear  the  word  of  God  and 
keep  it."  It  is  thus  his  wisdom  and  the  public  ad- 
miration confound  the  Pharisees. 

Nevertheless,  those  perfidious  wretches  from  that 
instant  combined  to  sow  the  seeds  of  ignorant  defiance 
and  brutal  hostility,  which  burst  forth  in  cries  of  death 
to  him  before  Pilate  on  the  day  of  his  crucifixion.  Some 
of  his  relatives,  according  to  the  flesh,  dreaded  that  the 
leaven  of  the  Pharisees  would  ensnare  him  to  ruin. 

One  day,  according  to  St.  Matthew,  his  mother  and 
his  brothers  called  on  him  while  he  was  speaking. 
According  to  Mark  (who  does  not  mention  here  the 
Blessed  Virgin),  they  came  to  arrest  him.  Their  faith, 
yet  weak,  allowed  them  to  be  overcome  by  fear.  This 
fear  was  doubtless  awakened  by  some  evil  dispositions 
which    they    perceived    growing    in    wicked    minds.* 

*  It  is  not  known  who  were  those  relatives.  Of  the  four  cousins  of 
our  Lord,  whom  the  Gospel  calls  brothers,  three  were  at.  that  moment 


TIte  Life  of  our  Lord  yesus  Christ.  215 

However  it  be,  our*  Lord,  who  knew  the  danger 
lutter  than  the)',  replies  conformably  to  the  beauty 
and  majesty  of  his  divine  character:  "Who  is  my 
mother,  and  who  are  my  brothers?  "  Casting  his  eyes 
on  those  who  sat  around  him,  he  adds  :  "  Behold  my 
mother  and  my  brothers  ;  for  whoever  docs  the  will  of 
my  Father  who  is  in  heaven,  that  is  the  person  who  is 
my  brother,  my  sister,  and  my  mother."  To  the 
shepherds  of  Bethlehem,  representatives  of  the  human 


race,  the  angel  said,  "  A  child  is  born  to  you."     Jesus 


ratifies  once  more  the  promise  of  the  angel.     He  be- 
longs to  the  human  family  more  than  to  his  relatives 


i 


and  his  mother.  This  harmony  of  the  Gospel  is  the 
joy  and  light  of  the  heart. 

Forthwith  Jesus  proceeds  to  teach  the  multitude. 
He  speaks  to  them  in  parables — a  sort  of  instruction 
by  which  he  facilitates  for  ever  the  comprehension  of 
the  sublimest  truths  by  the  simplest  and  most  illiterate 
minds.  The  prophet  had  said  in  his  name  :  "I  will 
speak  in  parables,  and  I  will  make  manifest  things  which 
have  been  hidden  since  the  beginning  of  the  world." 
Jesus  fulfils  the  prophecy  by  prophecies  of  a  new  or- 
der, clearer  and  not  less  profound,  whose  fulfilment, 
daily  revived,  will  be  in  his  Church  a  perpetual  source 
of  light  and  faith. 

near  him  with  the  apostles.  It  is  not,  therefore,  of  those  that  there  is 
a  question.  Whoever  they  were,  their  fear  is  quite  comprehensible* 
The  humble  life  of  Jesus  at  Nazareth  revealed  to  them  but  his  perfect 
virtue — that  is,  the  quality  that  men  observe  the  least — and  by  no 
means  his  power.  The  Blessed  Virgin  kept  in  her  heart  what  she 
knew;  but  she  knew  him  well,  and  we  cannot  admit  that  she  could 
have  conceived  the  thought  of  interrupting  the  mission  of  her  Divine 
Son.  It  is  thought,  therefore,  that  she  came  only  to  see  him,  without 
knowing  the  design  of  his  relatives. 


CHAPTER  III. 


THE   SOWER — THE   TARES — THE  MUSTARD- SEED- 
NET   CAST   IN   THE   SEA. 


-THE 


THE  parable  of  that  day  concerned  the  salvation 
of  souls  and  announced  the  Church. 

The  Sower  had  sown.  A  part  of  the  seed  fell  on  the 
roadside  ;  the  birds  came  and  ate  it  up.  Another  part 
fell  on  stony  ground  ;  the  grain  at  first  fructified,  but  was 
dried  up  by  the  scorching  winds  and  the  sun.  Another 
part  fell  among  thorns,  and  the  smothered  stems  pro- 
duced nothing.  Another  part  fell  on  good  earth,  and 
the  grains  rendered  some  thirty,  others  sixty,  and 
others  an  hundred  for  one. 

The  seed  is  the  word  of  God.  The  explanation 
given  by  Jesus  himself  discovers  the  different  dispo- 
sitions the  word  of  God  will  find  in  the  heart  of  man. 
In  those  who  hear  by  the  wayside,  without  quitting 
the  ways  of  the. world,  the  word  will  never  germinate  ; 
upon  this  trodden  road  every  error  passes,  on  it  every 
vice  sojourns.  Vain  thoughts,  brutal  passions,  like  ra- 
venous birds,  devour  the  good  seed  as  soon  as  it  has 
fallen. 

The  stony  places  are  the  hearts  that  fear  more  than 
they  love.  Occupied  with  the  interests  of  the  flesh 
and  life,  they  have  no  depth  whereby  the  root  can  be 
secured.      The  word   has   been  received,   it    fructifies, 

216 


The  Life  of  our  Lord  Jesus   Christ.  217 

some  penitential  works  appear  ;  but  as  soon  as  trouble, 
temptation,  or  persecution  arises,  this  feeble  germ  suc- 
cumbs. ( 

The  thorns  that. grow  up  are  the  tumult  of  human 
affairs.  In  hearts  which  are  represented  by  this  soil  the 
depth  is  not  wanting  ;  but  the  trumpery  of  ambition 
and  riches  smother  the  divine  plant  ;  amid  the  increas- 
ing cares  of  the  world  it  remains  unfruitful. 


But     the    fathers    say   nobody    neglects    the    divine 


)  thorns  are  those  who  bear  no  fruit.     Thus   the   seed  is 

the  same  for  all  ;  it  falls  from  the  hand  of  God,  ready 
to  fructify  in  all  hearts  ;  the  Divine  Sower  gives  it  to 
all.  But  woe  to  him  who  renders  himself  a  barren,  un- 
fruitful soil — a  stony  soil,  a  soil  full  of  thorns  and 
briers.  For  there  are  many  soils  wherein  the  seed  of 
the  Lord  cannot  fructify. 

The  parable  of  the  tares  is  allied  to  that  of  the  seed, 
and  contains  a  more  especial  teaching.  While  the  ser- 
vants were  asleep  the  enemy  comes  and  sows  tares  in 
the  field  that  the  father  of  the  family  had  sown  with 


word  but  in  the  ways  which  are  here  predicted  : 
contempt  of  the  word,  carelessness  or  instability  of 
character,  and  enslavement  by  the  riches  of  the 
world.  Such  is  the  natural  order:  a  road,  stones, 
and  thorns.  The  first  thing  we  require  is  thought- 
fulness,  then  courage,  and  lastly  a  contempt  of  the 
things  of  the  earth.  And  this  is  what  our  Lord 
expresses  when  he  adds  :  "  What  falls  on  the  good 
ground  represents  those  who,  having  heard  the  word 
with  a  good  and  upright  heart,  retain  and  preserve  it, 
and  bear  fruit  through  patience."  Indeed,  those  who 
are  on  the  roadside  do  not  retain  the  word  ;  those 
among  the  rocks  and  stones  cannot  withstand  patiently 
the  assaults  of  temptation  ;  those  who  are  among  the 


2li 


The  Life  of  our  Lord   Jesus  Christ. 


good  seed.  The  tares  make  their  appearance,  and  the 
negligent  servants  propose  to  pluck  them  up.  "  No," 
replies  the  father  of  the  family,  "  lest  you  might  also 
root  up  the  good  grain.  Let  both  grow  till  the  day 
of  harvest.  Then  I  will  say  to  my  reapers  :  First  ga- 
ther the  tares;  they  shall  be  bound  into  sheaves,  and 
cast  into  the  fire  ;  and  the  wheat  shall  be  put  into  my 
granary." 

The  field  is  the  world,  the  Father  of  the  family  is 
God,  the  enemy  is  the  devil,  the  tares  or  the  bad  grain 
are  the  seed  of  schism  and  heresy,  which  he  will  cast 
on  the  earth  when  the  pastors  of  the  Church  become 
negligent. 

There  is  no  question  about  the  different  sorts  of 
seeds,  but  only  about  the  tares  or  bad  grain.  The  seed 
of  the  tare  produces  a  stem  resembling  that  of  wheat. 
At  the  beginning  heresy  veils  its  presence  ;  when  its 
liberty  is  well  rooted,  and  when  it  has  acquired  parti- 
sans, then,  says  St.  John  Chrysostom,  the  fruit  shows 
itself;  then  heresy  spreads  its  poison.  However,  the 
Father  of  the  family  forbids  the  plucking  up  of  the 
tares — not  that  he  accepts  or  sanctions  this  bad  weed, 
since  it  is  reserved  for  the  fire  ;  the  reason  he  permits 
it  to  grow  up  is  that,  in  rooting  it  out,  they  would  run 
the  risk  of  pulling  up  the  good  grain. 

But  there  is  another  reason,  all  merciful  and  divine. 
In  this  fruitful  soil  of  the  Gospel  of  Jesus  Christ  the 
tares  or  bad  grain  can  become  pure  wheat  ;  for  there  is 
a  sap  which  corrects  the  plant  it  nourishes.  As  it 
requires  time  for  one  to  ripen,  so  it  requires  time,  says 
St.  Jerome,  for  the  other  to  repent  and  do  penance; 
and  we  are  forbidden  to  effect  the  sudden  destruction 
of  our  brother.  Such  as  are  to-day  corrupted  by  a 
perverse  and  wicked  doctrine    can  become  to-morrow 


'ws1 


The  Life  of  cur  Lord  yesus  C/irist.  2 1 9 

the  defenders  of  the  truth.  "  For  fear  you  might,  at 
the  same  time,  pluck  up  the  wheat."  For  it  may  be, 
says  St.  Augustine,  that  the  future  wheat  may  be 
rooted  up  under  the  actual  appearance  of  tares.  By 
patience  you  become  perfect  ;  and  this  patience,  which 
brings  forth  thirty,  sixty,  an  hundred  fold,  tolerates 
the  wicked,  in  order  that  they  may  become  good.  In 
plucking  up  the  bad  grain  you  tear  up  the  wheat  ; 
whereas  the  grace  of  God  and  your  patience  ought  to 
be  sufficient  to  change  the  bad  into  the  good.  You 
hinder  the  good  themselves,  whom  they  are  bound  to 
yield  to,  in  spite  of  themselves.  "  Let  them  grow  till 
the  harvest-time  " — that  is,  till  the  day  of  judgment. 
That  will  be  the  time  to  root  them  out,  when  they  no 
longer  will  have  time  to  repent  or  to  change  their  lives, 
and  also  because  the  contrast  of  their  faults  will  then 
be  no  longer  useful  to  stimulate  the  good  to  virtue. 

This  precept,  or  rather  counsel,  does  not  contradict 
that  which  commands  us  to  root  out  evil  from  among 
us.  We  are  not  forbidden,  St.  John  Chrysostom  re- 
marks, to  oppose  ourselves  to  heresy,  to  prevent  its 
assemblies  and  its  propagandism,  to  cause  the  truth 
to  prevail  against  it,  to  confine  and  punish  its  abettors. 
It  was  at  first  the  opinion  of  St.  Augustine  that  nobody 
should  be  compelled  to  the  unity  of  Christ  :  to  act 
only  by  discussion,  to  convince  only  by  reason.  He 
feared  that  those  who  were  known  as  determined 
heretics  might  thus  be  changed  into  hypocritical 
Catholics.  Notwithstanding,  his  opinion,  he  says, 
was  not  combated  by  words,  but  yielded  to  contrary 
examples.  He  thought  of  those  terrible  laws  which 
command  kings  to  serve  the  Lord  with  trembling. 
Many  render  God  thanks  for  having  constrained  them 
through  fear,  through  force,  through  persecution,  and 


2  20  The  Life  of  cur  Lord  Jesus  Christ. 

who,  in  forcing  them,  had  delivered  them  from  another 
constraint  immeasurably  more  humiliating  and  unendur- 
able— the  constraint  of  error.  He  concludes  that  the 
kings  of  the  earth  are  bound  to  serve  and  obey  Christ 
in  publishing  the  laws  in  favor  of  Christ  ;  for  the  wor- 
ship of  Christ  is  in  unity.  The  house  of  David  could 
not  obtain  peace  unless  by  the  destruction  of  the  re- 
bellious Absalom,  although-  David  had  recommended 
that  he  should  not  be  molested,  and  only  awaited  his 
repenting  to  pardon  him.  David  wept  for  this  guilty 
man,  and  was  consoled  at  the   thought  that  peace  was 

\  restored  to  his  people.     Thus  it  is  that  the  Catholic 

Church,  our  mother,  when  she  acquires  a  vast  number 
of   children   by  the  perdition  of  some,  finds  consola- 

/  tion  in  the  sorrow  at  beholding  so  many  souls  saved. 

)  Heretics  cry  out  and  rebuke  us  :  To  whom  has  Christ 

done  violence  ?     Whom  has  he  forced  or  compelled  ? 

)  Behold  the  Apostle  St.  Paul  ;   Christ  compelled  him, 


then  instructed  and  consoled  him  ;  and  it  is  worthy 
of  remark  that  he  who  enters  by  the  coercion  of  cor- 
poral chastisement  labored  more  than  those  whom  the 
word  alone  had  called.  Why  should  not  the  Church 
compel  those  to  return  who,  by  their  wandering  from 
the  truth,  have  led  others  to  perdition  ? 

And  woe  to  those  who,  not  open  to  persuasion  and 
rebellious  to  compulsion,  will  not  be  changed  !  The 
time  of  the  harvest  will  arrive  ;  the  reapers,  the  re- 
doubtable angels,  will  enter  the  field,  and  they  will 
make  a  definite  separation,  and  the  tares,  bound  up  in 
sheaves,  will  be  hurled  into  the  fire.  Observe,  says  an 
interpreter,  that  punishment  is  announced  to  those 
who  "  do  evil,"  not  to  those  who  have  done  evil.  Only 
those  will  be  eternally  punished  who  persist  in  their 
sins,  and  by  no  means  those  who  do  penance.  Re- 
) 


The  Life  of  our  Lord  jfesus   Clirisi,  221 


mark,  says  another  interpreter,  the  love  of  God.  lie 
is  prompt  to  confer  benefits,  slow  to  inflict  punish- 
ments. When  he  sows,  it  is  by  himself;  when  he 
punishes,  it  is  through  others — through  the  angels 
whom  he  sends  out,  or  delegates  from  heaven. 

The  grain  of  mustard-seed — this  small  grain,  the 
smallest  grain  of  all — is  also  the  Church,  is  Jesus  Christ 
himself,  is  the  faith  in  the  hearts  of  the  faithful.  What 
did  the  twelve  apostles  appear  in  the  eyes  of  the  world, 
or  Jesus  Christ  lying  under  the  tombstone  ?  What 
does  an  obscure  and  unknown  man  appear  to  be  in 
whom  an  humble,  kind  word  has  sown  the  grain  of 
mustard-seed,  the  germ  of  faith?  We  know  what  has 
issued  from  the   tomb  and  what  the  apostles  became. 

The  man  who  receives  the  faith  has  something  in  him 

( 
greater  than  humanity.  He  may  have  been  before- 
hand skilled  in  all  sciences  and  in  all  errors.  He  may 
have  been  devoted  to  every  species  of  ambition,  aban- 
doned to  every  vicious  seduction,  enslaved  to  sensual- 
ity, and  harnessed  to  the  yoke  of  every  tyrannical  pa 
sion.  Faith  now  rules  in  him  above  science  and  error; 
she  arms  him  against  temptation  ;  she  delivers  him 
from  slavery;  she  is  stronger  in  him  than  the  world, 
stronger  than  himself.  This  tree,  with  its  mighty 
branches,  grows  out  from  his  barren  soul,  and  where 
reigned  decay  and  death,  now  abundant  fruitfulness 
abounds. 


) 
) 

Jesus  says  again:  "  The  net,  cast  into  the  sea,  gath- 
ers in  all  sorts  of  fish.  When  it  is  full,  the  fishermen 
put  aside  the  good  and  cast  away  the  bad  fish.  Such 
will  be  the  case  at  the  end  of  time  :  the  angels  will  se- 
parate the  wicked  from  the  just,  and  will  cast  them 
into  the  furnace.  There  will  be  weeping  and  gnashing 
of  teeth.' 


22: 


The  Life  of  our  Lord  yesus  Christ. 


The  Church  gathers  in  all  kinds  of  fish  ;  for  she  calls 
all  to  do  penance  for  the  remission  of  sins — rich  and 
poor,  ignorant  and  learned,  foolish  and  wise.  When 
the  net  shall  be  full,  the  destiny  of  the  human  race 
shall  be  sealed.  Then  we  will  behold  what  the  net 
contains.  Then  a  distribution  shall  be  made.  In  the 
parable  of  the  tares  the  point  at  issue  is  about  those 
who  persist  on  account  of  the  perversity  of  heretical 
doctrine,  because  they  have  not  discerned  or  embraced 
the  truth.  Here  the  point  in  question  is  concerning 
those  who  perish  on  account  of  the  perversity  of  their 
lives,  though  taken  in  the  net  and  having  received  the 
knowledge  of  God.  We  should  here,  says  St.  Gregory, 
rather  tremble  than  comment.  The  torments  of  the 
damned  are  here  announced  in  proper  terms,  so  that 
nobody  can  allege  his  ignorance,  and  plume  himself  on 
the  obscurity  of  the  dogma  of  eternal  punishment. 

In  giving  these  instructions  Jesus  made  the  apostles 
understand  that  they  should  repeat  them  all  over  the 
earth.  "  No  person,  after  having  lit  a  candle,"  says  he 
to  them,  "  covers  it  with  an  urn  or  puts  it  under  the 
bed  ;  but  they  put  it  on  the  candlestick,  so  that  those 
who  enter  may  see  the  light."  '  This  recommendation 
will  suffice  to  show  that  the  word  of  God  is  not,  can- 
not be,  bound  up,  tied  up,  even  when  those  who  are 
commissioned  to  disseminate  it  are  loaded  with  chains. 
The  light  will  be  put  on  the  candlestick.  It  will  shine  ; 
it  will  illuminate  ;  it  will  cast  all  over  the  world  an  ef- 
fulgence of  heavenly  light. 

And  at  length,  to  warn  his  hearers  and  to  attract 
their  minds  to  meditate  on  the  mystery  of  the  parables, 
Jesus  frequently  said  :  "  He  that  has  ears  to  hear,  let 
him  understand." 


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■f    -fcV—".-i~— »  ,^J^— — « 

CHAPTER   IV. 

INCREDULITY  OF  NAZARETH— FIRST  MISSION  OF  THE 
APOSTLES— THE  FIVE  LOAVES— PETER  WALKS 
ON  THE  WATERS— ANNOUNCEMENT  OF  THE  EU- 
CHARIST. 

JESUS  retired  from  the  place  where  he  had  given 
these  instructions,  and  returned  to  Nazareth,  his 
country.  He  enters  the  synagogue  on  the  Sabbath 
day  to  teach,  according  to  the  privilege  and  right  of 
every  son  of  Israel.  He  rises  up  to  read.  The  book 
of  Isaias  is  put  in  his  hands,  which  was  liturgical  read- 
ing at  that  season  of  the  year;  for  he  changed  nothing 
from  the  ordinary  course,  and  carefully  fulfilled  all 
things  according  to  the  law.  On  opening  the  book  he 
finds  this  passage  :  "  The  Spirit  of  the  Lord  is  upon 
me,  and  this  is  why  I  have  received  his  unction  to 
evangelize  the  poor,  to  heal  those  who  have  a  broken 
heart,  to  announce  deliverance  to  captives,  light  to  the 
blind,  to  publish  the  happy  year  of  the  Lord  and  the 
day  of  retribution."  Having  closed  the  book,  he 
hands  it  to  the  priest  of  the  synagogue,  and  sits  down. 
All  the  bystanders  eye  him  closely.  He  says  to  them, 
"  Those  words  are  fulfilled  on  this  day  that  you  hear 
them." 

The  majesty  of  this  expression  is  the  more  striking 
as  our  Lord  was  not  ignorant  of  the  wicked  disposi- 


The  Life  of  our  Lord  fêsus   Christ. 

tions  of  his  hearers.     They  are  affected  by  a  twofold  ( 

feeling.    At  first  they  admire,  but  soon  after  the  leaven     - 
of  the  Pharisees  manifests  itself  and  predominates. 

This  leaven  could  ferment  at  Nazareth  more  freely 
than  elsewhere.  The  Nazarenes  doubtless  regarded 
the  gift  of.  prophecy  and  of  miracles  as  a  great  favor  ; 
they  were  jealous  that  this  gift  should  have  fallen  on  a 
man  whom  they  esteemed  so  little.  They  begin  to 
say  to  one  another,  "  Is  not  this  man  the  son  of  Joseph 
the  carpenter,  the  son  of  Mary?  Do  we  not  know 
his  brothers,  his  sisters?  Are  they  not  in  our  midst? 
Whence,  then,  comes  all  this  to  this  man?  " 

Jesus  reads  the  secrets  of  their  wretched  hearts,  and 
foresees  the  unjust  request  they  were  about  to  make  to 
him.  "  Perform  miracles,  if  you  be  God  !  "  The  first 
who  utter  this  malicious  cry  had  seen  the  dead  resusci- 
tated. When  miracles  shine  forth,  they  seek  to  prove 
them  unlawful,  or  they  attribute  them  to  the  power  of 
the  demon. 

Jesus  reminded  them  that  Elias  had  been  sent  to 
the  widow  of  Sarepta,  although  widows  were  not 
wanting  in  Israel;  that  Eliseus  did  not  heal  the  nume- 
rous lepers  of  Israel^  but  only  Naaman,  who  was  a 
Syrian.  This  was  to  warn  them  to  dispose  themselves 
to  receive  grace  by  renouncing  their  jealousies  and 
their  incredulity.  But  they,  on  the  contrary,  revolt 
against  the  Saviour,  cast  him  out  from  their  synagogue, 
and  drag  him  off  to  the  summit  of  the  mountain,  with 
the  design  of  precipitating  him  from  it.  His  mercy 
spared  them  from  attempting  this  crime.  "  Jesus, 
passing  right  through  their  midst,  goes  his  way  "  !  He 
had  either  rendered  himself  invisible  to  their  eyes,  or 
he  had  paralyzed  their  hands. 

This  was   almost   the  only  miracle  he  performed  at 


The  Life  of  our  Lord  Jïsi/s  Chris/.  225 

Nazareth — the  miracle  by  which  he  daily  baffles  so  much 
intervention  of  impiety.  He  renders  himself  invisible, 
he  paralyzes  the  furious,  he  passes  through  their  midst, 
and  vanishes  when  they  contemplate  his  destruction. 
He  refused  them  miracles  which  their  insolence  re- 
quired ;  he  accomplishes  them  when  their  incredulity 
sees  not,  and  their  souls  profit  not  by  them. 

Nevertheless,  his  clemency  for  his  fellow-countrymen 

could   not    absolutely    remain    inactive.       He    imposes 

)  his  hands   on   those   who   were  sick,   and  cures  them. 

The  sacred  text   adds:    "Their   incredulity  astonishes 

i  him." 

He  forsakes   those  ungrateful,  hard-hearted,  incrcdu- 
)  lous  people,  and  resumes  his  journey  of  mercy,  passing 

over  routes  which  the  prophets  and  the  patriarchs  had 
passed  through,  imparting  throughout  health,  hope,  and 
life.  "  He  had  pity  on  them,  because  they  were  heavily 
oppressed  with  many  evils,  and  hiding  here  and  there 
like  sheep  without  a  shepherd."  Having  then  assem- 
bled the  apostles,  he  sent  them  out  two  by  two  in 
different  directions  to  succor  those  who  could  not 
come. 

This  first  mission  was  but  an  easy  step  to  the  novi- 
tiate of  the  hard  and  trying  labors  of  the  apostlcship. 
I  All  at  once  Jesus  gives  to  his  ambassadors   heavenly  } 

instruction,  which,  later  on,  must  make  them  breast 
every  peril,  and  which,  transmitted  by  them  to 
their    successors,     will    render    those    too    victorious  ^ 

over  death.  He  enjoined  on  them  poverty,  prudence, 
and  mildness.  He  bade  them  not  to  carry  with  them 
two  pairs  of  shoes,  nor  two  coats,  nor  money;  to  have 
but  one  stick  for  their  journey  ;  not  to  resist  nor  to 
defend  themselves.  He  gave  them  power  to  cast  out 
devils  and  to  heal  the  sick  ;   he  warns  them  against  the 


226  The  Life  of  our  Lord  ye  sus  Christ. 

attachments  of  flesh  and  blood  :  "  Who  loves  his  father 
or  his  mother  more  than  me  is  not  worthy  of  me  ;  who 
does  not  take  up  his  cross  and  follow  me  is  not  worthy 
of  me  ;  who  loves  his  life  more  than  me  will  lose  it, 
and  who  loses  it  for  my  sake  shall  save  it."  Behold  the 
conquerors  of  the  world  ! 

At  that  time  the  name  of  Jesus  came  to  the  ears  of 
the  tetrarch  Herod.  This  tyrant  believed  that  the 
prophet  of  whom  so  many  great  things  were  spoken 
was  no  other  than  John  the  Baptist  resuscitated.  He 
desired  to  see  him,  but  Jesus  withdrew  himself. 
Herod's  malady  was   not  that  of  those  he  spontané-  s 

ously  goes  to  heal.  '-. 

The  apostles  return  to  render  him  an  account  of 
what  they  had  done.  The  good  Master  anxiously 
desires  to  lead  them  to  some  solitary  spot,  so  that 
they  might  enjoy  a  little  repose;  for  the  throng  did  not 
leave  them  even  time  to  eat.  He  took  them  with  him  in 
his  bark,  and  steers  his  course  towards  a  solitary  place 
in  the  territory  of  Bethsaida.  The  vast  multitudes  fol- 
lowed here,  as  they  did  everywhere  else.  He  compas- 
sionates them,  as  is  always  his  wont.  He  conducts  these 
poor  people  to  the  mountain  ;  then,  having  seated 
himself  in  the  midst  of  his  apostles,  he  heals  those 
afflicted  with  various  diseases,  and  speaks  of  the  king- 
dom of  God. 

The  day  advances.  The  twelve  entreat  the  Lord  to 
dismiss  the  multitude,  as  it  was  high  time,  so  that  they 
might  arrive  at  the  village  to  purchase  something  to 
eat  before  the  shades  of  night  should  overtake  them, 
because  no  one  among  them  had  any  provisions  ;  more- 
over, the  place  was  a  desert.  Jesus  says  to  them  : 
"  Give  them  yourselves  something  to  eat."  At  which 
they  ask  him  if  they  should  go  and  purchase  two  hun- 


) 


The  Life  of  out  Lord  JZsus  Christ.  227 


dred  pemies'  worth  of  bread.  But  Jesus,  not  appear- 
ing to  hear  them,  contemplates  the  multitude.  There 
were  there  about  five  thousand  men,  without  reckoning 
the  women  and  children.  Jesus,  knowing  well  what  he 
would  do,  says  to  Philip  :  "  Where  will  we  get  means 
to  purchase  food  for  this  vast  multitude?"  Philip 
answers:  "  With  two  hundred  pennies'  worth  we  can- 
not purchase  enough  of  bread  that  each  one  may  get  a 
little."  Then  Jesus  is  informed  of  the  provisions  they 
»  can  obtain,  and  Andrew  advances  to  tell  him:  "There 

is  a  boy  here  with  five  barley  loaves  and  two  fishes." 
He  adds:  "  What  is  that  among  so  many?"  Never- 
theless, Jesus  orders  the  apostles  to  make  them  all  sit 
down  in  order  on  the  grass.  Then,  having  taken  the 
five  loaves,  with  the  two  fishes,  and  raising  his  eyes  to 
heaven,  he  blesses  them,  he  breaks  them,  and  gives 
them  to  the  disciples  to  distribute  them  to  those  who 
had  sat  down.  lie  commands  his  disciples  to  give 
them  as  much  as  they  could  eat.  All  eat,  and  all  are 
satisfied,  and  with  fragments  that  remain  they  fill  up 
twelve  baskets.  Thus  the  Eucharistie  bread  satisfies 
the  world,  and  is  never  exhausted,  never  fails.  This 
is  not  the  only  sense  of  this  miracle,  which  further  on 
he  will  speak  of. 

The  people  wondered  exceedingly.  They  said 
among  themselves:  "This  is  surely  the  Prophet  that 
was  expected  to  come  ;  let  us  make  him  king."  Jesus 
dismisses  them  to  prevent  their  design,  and  to  teach 
his  priests  that  they  must  not  seek  popular  fame. 
Forthwith,  having  ordered  his  disciples  to  embark  and 
await  him  on  the  other  side  of  the  lake,  he  flies  off  to 
the  mountain,  where  he  remains  alone  in  prayer. 

But  the  bark  which  carries  the  disciples  struggles 
against   the  wind.     Toward  the   fourth   watch    of  the 


228  The  Life  of  our  Lord  yesus  Christ. 


night  they  had  made  not  more  than  twenty-five  or 
thirty  furlongs.     Jesus,  seeing  they  rowed   with  diffi-  < 

culty,  draws  near  to  them,  and  walks  on  the  boisterous 
billows.  The  disciples  perceive  him,  directing  himself 
as   if  he  would  pass  them  by,  and  they  imagined  they  ) 

saw  an  apparition.  They  cried  aloud.  Jesus  says  to 
them  :  "  It  is  I  ;  fear  not."  Peter  cries  out  :  "  Lord,  if 
it  be  you,  command  that  I  may  go  to  you  on  the 
waters."     Jesus  says  to  him,  "  Come."     And  Peter  left  j 

the  bark— walked  also  on  the  sea.  But  the  wind  was 
strong.  Peter  was  afraid,  and  at  the  same  instant  he 
was  sinking.  He  who  fears  not  to  trust  himself  to  the 
mighty  deep  suffers  himself  to  be  terrified  by  the 
noise  of  the  wind.  This  is  the  very  same  man  whom 
love  for  Jesus  will  drag  to   the   pretorium,   yet  whom  ( 

the  voice  of  a  servant  will  frighten  into  denial  of 
him.  '  i 

Yet  the  apostle  does  not  outrage  the  heart  of  his 
Master  so  far  as  to  forget  his  power  and  goodness.  He 
cries  out:  "  Lord,  save  me."     Jesus  takes  him  by  the  (' 

hand,  and  says  to  him  :  "  Man  of  little  faith,  why  have 
you  doubted  ?  "  If  his  faith  had  been  strong,  the  winds 
would  not  have  power  to  hurt  him,  the  sea  would  have 
remained  solid  under  his  feet.  It  was  not  Peter  who 
walked  on  the  waters,  says  St.  Jerome  ;  it  was  faith. 
Peter  had  need  to  learn  it.  Jesus  had  given  it  to  him, 
in  order  that  he  might  know  him  for  ever.     He  takes  j 

him  by  the  hand,  as  a  mother,  seeing  the  danger  of  \ 

her  little  one  that  goes  out  too  soon,  takes  it  under  her 
wings  and  brings  it  back  to  the  nest.  Then  Jesus  as- 
cends with  Peter  into  the  bark,  and  forthwith  the 
winds  cease,  and  immediately  the  bark  is  at  the  shore 
which  they  were  going  to. 

Jesus  walked  on  the  waters  ;  he  made  Peter  walk  on 


~1 


The  Life  of  our  Lord  Jbsus  Christ.  229 

them;  he  appeased  the  tempest;  a  passage  of  many 
hours  was  accomplished  in  an  instant.  The  eyes  of 
the  disciples  were  not  opened  by  the  multiplication  of 
bread  ;  but  those  recent  miracles,  multiplied  for  them 
alone,  at  length  caused  the  bandage  to  fall  from  their 
eyes.  They  adore  their  Master,  saying  to  him  :  "  You 
are  truly  the  Son  of  God." 

Everywhere  the  people  were  made  acquainted  with 
the  wonderful  prodigies  of  Jesus,  and  of  his  presence 
among  his  people.  Into  whatever  place  he  withdrew, 
town,&village,  or  city,  they  bring  him  the  sick.  Ranged 
along  in  rows  in  public  places,  they  implored  him  to 
let  them  but  touch  the  hem  of  his  garment,  and  all 
went  away  cured. 

The  men  who  had  profited  by  the  multiplication  of 
the  loaves  always  wished  to  proclaim  him  king.  After 
having  sought  him  on  the  borders  of  the  lake,  after  the 
day  of  that  miracle,  they  met  in  great  crowds  at  Ca- 
pharnaum  when  he  entered  it.  In  the  depth  of  their 
zeal  they  had  but  one  desire,  as  is  proved  from  what 
follows— that  is,  to  lead  an  indolent  life  with  an  abun- 
dance of  the  good  things  of  earth.  They  desired  no- 
thing more  of  the  Mcssias.  The  moment  had  arrived 
to  give  them  a  more  sublime  idea  of  him,  and  make 
them  understand  what  sort  of  bread  the  Messias 
brought  from  heaven  to  the  world. 

Then  Jesus  told  them  they  sought  him  because  he 
had  satisfied  them  with  bread  ;  that,  notwithstanding, 
they  must  labor,  not  for  the  food  that  perishes,  but  for 
that  which  remains  unto  eternal  life;  and  that  this  was 
the  bread  which  the  Son  of  Man  would  give  them. 

They  ask  him  what  works  would  render  them  pleas- 
ing to  God.  Jesus  answers  them  :  "The  work  of  God 
is  that  vou  believe  in  Him  whom  he  has  sent."     For 


The  Life  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ. 

faith  produces  humility,  desire,  love,  and  all  the  other 
virtues  of  this  life. 

But  the  spirit  of  the  Pharisees  was  fermenting  in 
them.  They  deny  that  the  miracles  of  which  they 
were  witnesses  should  or  could  oblige  them  to  believe. 
Alluding  to  the  multiplication  of  the  loaves,  which  was 
but  a  moment  ago  the  foundation  of  their  hopes,  they 
object  that  Moses  had  done  more  feeding  and  nourish- 
ing their  fathers  in  the  desert  with  manna;  whence  it 
is  written,  "  He  had  given  them  to  eat  of  the  bread  of 
heaven."  Jesus  replies  to  them:  "The  true  celestial 
bread  is  not  of  Moses,  but  of  my  Father;  for  the  true 
bread  of  God  is  that  which  comes  from  heaven  and 
gives  life  to  the  world."  They  say  to  him  :  "  Lord, 
give  us  always  of  that  bread." 

Then  Jesus,  entering  into  the  depths  of  the  mystery, 
says  to  them  :  "  I  am  the  bread  of  life.  He  who  comes 
to  me  shall  not  hunger;  and  he  who  believes  in  me 
shall  not  thirst.  .  .  .  This  is  the  will  of  my  Father 
who  sent  me — that  whoever  sees  the  Son  and  believes 
in  him  may  have  eternal  life  ;  and  I  will  raise  him  up 
on  the  last  day  " — words  literally  true,  but  which  the 
Jews  did  not  understand,  nor  did  they  wish  to  under- 
stand. 

That  eternal  life  of  which  Jesus  speaks,  being  ex- 
empt from  the  miseries  and  wants  of  the  present  life, 
it  is  literally  true  that  whoever  will  possess  it  shall 
hunger  and  thirst  no  more,  but  shall  be  perfectly 
satiated.  And  although  the  eternal  life  may  be  said 
to  commence  only  at  the  resurrection,  yet  in  the 
present  life  the  eternal  exists  in  those  who  are 
nourished  or  fed  with  the  living  bread.  Mingled  with 
their  flesh,  the  Eucharistie  bread  implants  in  them  a 
spiritual,  immortal   germ    of  eternal   life,  and   natural 


;  î 

The  Life  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ.  231 

death  will  not  destroy  it.  This  immortal  germ  shall 
be  preserved  in  their  dry,  withered  bones  ;  not  an  atom 
of  their  scattered  dust  shall  be  separated  from  it.  It 
will  sleep  with  them  till  the  day  whereon  God  shall 
command  it  to  bud  forth  ;  and  forthwith  that  flesh  shall 
live  again,  or  rather  shall  bloom  in  fulness  of  glory, 
clothed  with  immortality,  rid  of  concupiscences,  which 
have  been  the  cause  of  its  corruption.  Nothing  im- 
pure will  remain  in  it  any  more.  Nothing  in  it  can 
feel  the  sting  of  death;  the  contact  with  the  Son  of 
God  will  destroy  and  consume  the  principle  of  death. 
What  the  faith  of  man  has  believed  and  desired  the 
love  of  God  has  willed  and  accomplished. 

Instead  of  believing  and  awaiting  an  explanation  of 
what  they  did  not  comprehend,  the  Jews  began  to 
murmur  like  those  of  Nazareth,  many  of  whom,  per- 
haps, were  among  them.  "  Is  not  this  man  Jesus,  the 
son  of  Joseph  ?  Why  does  he  tell  us  that  he  descend- 
ed from  heaven?"  Jesus  sternly  warns  them  not 
to  murmur,  and  after  some  sublime  words,  reserved, 
so  to  speak,  for  the  interpretation  of  St.  Paul  and  the 
Church,  and  for  a  later  development  of  this  mystery 
of  grace,  he  continues  his  discourse.  Imposing  upon 
their  rebellious  reason  the  yoke  and  weight  of  divine 
j  authority,  he  informs  them  that  this  mysterious  bread 

he  announces  to  them  was  himself — was  his  own 
flesh.  "  Verily,  verily  I  say  to  you,  he  who  believes 
on  me  has  eternal  life.  I  am  the  Bread  of  Life. 
Your  fathers  ate  manna  in  the  desert,  and  they  are 
dead.  This  is  the  bread  descended  from  heaven,  so 
that  if  any  one  cats  of  it  he  shall  not  die.  I  am  the 
living  bread  that  came  down  from  heaven.  If  any  one 
cats  of  this  bread,  he  will  live  for  ever  ;  and  the  bread 
which  I  will  give  is  my  flesh." 


232  The  Life  of  our  Lord  Jïsus   Christ. 

At  these  words  they  redouble  their  murmurings: 
"  How  can  this  man  give  us  his  flesh  to  eat  ?  "  Hozv  ! 
true  Jewish  word,  says  St.  Cyril.  By  the  right,  power, 
and  authority  of  his  divinity.  Jesus  replies,  reaffirm 
ing  what  he  had  already  said  by  a  new  asseveration 
"  Verily,  verily  I  say  to  you,  if  you  do  not  eat  the  flesh 
of  the  Son  of  Man,  and  if  you  do  not  drink  his  blood, 
you  will  not  have  life  in  you.  He  who  eats  my  flesh 
and  drinks  my  blood  has  eternal  life,  and  I  will  raise 
him  up  on  the  last  day  ;  for  my  flesh  is  truly  meat  and 
my  blood  is  truly  drink.  He  who  eats  my  flesh  and 
drinks  my  blood  dwells  in  me  and  I  in  him.  As  my  Fa- 
ther, who  is  living,  has  sent  me,  and  as  I  live  by  the  Fa- 
ther, so  also  he  who  eats  me  shall  also  live  by  me.  This 
is  the  bread  which  has  descended  from  heaven.  Not  as 
your  fathers  did  eat  manna,  and  died  :  who  eats  this 
bread  shall  live  for  ever." 

Man,  says  Bossuet,  always  reasons  against  the  good- 
ness of  God,  and  consequently  against  himself.  Those 
people  believed  that  Jesus  spoke  to  them  of  the  flesh 
of  man  like  that  of  others,  of  the  flesh  of  the  son  of 
Joseph  ;  that  it  would  be  a  flesh  like  that  with 
which  men  nourish  their  bodies,  and  so  a  flesh 
they  should  consume  by  eating.  To  these  three  er- 
rors Jesus  makes  three  replies:  "I  am  the  living 
bread  descended  from  heaven  "  ;  therefore  the  bread 
which  I  promise  is  not  the  flesh  of  the  son  of  Joseph  : 


) 


it  is  the   flesh  of  the  Son  of  God — flesh    conceived  of 
the  Holv  Ghost  and  formed  of  the  blood  of  the  Virgin. 


"  The  will  of  my  Father  is  that  I  should  not  lose  any 
of  those  whom  he  has  given  me,  and  that  I  will  raise 
them  up  on  the  last  day.  ...  He  who  eats  of  this 
bread,  of  my  flesh,  that  I  will  give  for  the  life  of  the 
world,  will    live    for   ever  "  ;     therefore    the    life    that 


The  Life  of  our  Lord  jfcsus   Clirist.  233 

his  flesh  preserves  is  not  this  ordinary  and  mortal  life, 


but  eternal  life,  as  well  of  the  soul  as  of  the  body, 
whereby  we  will  be  changed  and  become  like  to  the 
angels  of  God.  "  You  will  see  the  Son  of  Man  ascend 
whence  he  came  "  ;  therefore,  though  his  flesh  is  given 
for  the  food  and  nourishment  of  our  souls,  it  is  not  on 
that  account  less  living  and  whole. 

St.  John,  who  relates  these  divine  things,  adds  : 
"  This  is  what  Jesus  said,  teaching  in  the  synagogue  at 
Capharnaum."  It  was  meet  that  those  things  be  said 
at  that  time,  so  as  to  prepare  the  apostles  for  the  insti- 
tution of  the  Eucharist  ;  and  it  was  proper  they  should 
be  said  in  the  synagogue  publicly,  so  that  when  the 
apostles,  the  only  witnesses  of  the  institution  of  the 
Holy  Eucharist,  would  have  to  propound  this  formid- 
able, tremendous  mystery,  they  could  invoke  or  refer  to 
the  public  expression  of  our   Lord.      On  all  occasions 

the  merciful  wisdom  of  Jesus  has  taken  care  to  aid  our 

)  . 

1  incredulity. 

Nevertheless,  the  greater  part   of  those    men,  who 

could   so   easily  believe  him    because   of  the  miracles 

) 

they  had  seen,  did  not  believe  him.       There  were  even 
)  among  the  disciples  unbelievers.     "  Many  went  away.  ' 

\  This  is  an  exact  fulfilment  of  the  prophetic  parable  of 

the  seed  sown. 

Jesus  was  not  surprised  at  them.  He  knew  from 
the  commencement,  "  from  all  eternity  as  God,"  and 
from  his  conception  as  man,  who  they  were  who  would 
not  believe  in  him,  and  who  he  was  who  would  betray 
him.  He  says  to  the  twelve  apostles  :  "  And  you — do 
you  wish  also  to  go  away?"  Peter,  in  the  name  of 
the  others,  not  doubting  but  they  were  like  himself, 
full  of  humble,  submissive  faith,  answers:  "Lord,  to 
whom   shall   we   tro  ?     You   have  the  words  of  eternal 


2.34 


The  Life  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ. 


life.  We  have  believed,  and  we  have  acknowledged 
it,  that  you  are  the  Christ,  the  Son  of  the  living  God." 

Jesus  says:  "  Have  not  I  chosen  you  twelve?  And 
yet  there  is  one  among  you  who  is  a  demon." 

Oh  !  how  long  the  tender,  compassionate  heart  bleeds 
before  it  is  pierced. 


BOOK   IV. 

EDUCATION  OF   THE  ATOSTLES. 


CHAPTER  I. 

FALSE  PURIFICATION — THE  CHANAANITE — THE  DEAF 
MUTE — THE  SECOND  MULTIPLICATION  OF  THE 
LOAVES. 

E  might  say  that  the  Gospel  is  the  history  of 
the  training  of  St.  Peter  ami  the  apostles. 
Jesus,  because  he  is  a  perfect  man,  is  the  worshipper 
and  perfect  Priest,  and  this  was  his  mission  :  to  form 
worshippers  and  priests. 

From  the  period  at  which  we  have  arrived  he  begins 
to  apply  himself  to  the  furtherance  of  his  mission  with 
not  more  untiring,  but  more  direct,  zeal.  Instruction 
holds  the  chief  place  instead  of  miracles.  His  manner 
of  instructing  is  in  the  form  of  parables  or  of  controver 
sies  with  the  Pharisees,  scribes,  and  doctors  of  the  law. 

These  men,  who  abounded  in  Jerusalem,  were  else- 
where numerous.  Mingling  with  the  people,  they 
follow  Jesus  step  by  step,  always  read)-  to  propound 
captious  questions  to  him,  so  as  to  obtain  answers  in 
which  they  might    discover   something    objectionable. 


236  The  Life  of  our  Lord  jfesus  Chrish 


) 

)  \ 

)  '  j 

( 
{ 

If  we  had  in  our  possession  the  accounts  they  sent  .to 
the  Sanhedrim,  we  would  have  the  substance  and  the 
artifice  of  all  the  calumnies  which  shall  ever  be  hurled 

against  the  Church.  ( 

( 

One  day,  having  observed  that  some  of  the  disciples 

ate  without  having  washed  their  hands,  they  stigmatize 
as  a  trangression  this  forgetfulness  of  customs.  We 
read  in  the  prophets  :  "wash  yourself  and  be  pure  "  ; 
"  Purify  yourselves,  you  who  carry  the  vessels  of  the 
Lord,"  and  other  like  expressions.  That  sentiment 
was- directed  towards  the  correction  of  heart  and  soul. 
The  Pharisees  interpreted  it  in  a  material  sense.  Their 
continual  ablutions  dispensed  with  tears,  alms,  and 
other  justifiable  works.  They  said  to  Jesus:  "  How 
comes  it  that  your  disciples  violate  the  traditions,  and 
do  not  wash  their  hands  before  eating?"  Jesus  dis- 
dains to  reply  to  them.  ( 

This  is  one  of  the  petty  circumstances  which  weak 
minds  avail  themselves  of  to  do  injury  to  the  simplicity 
of  the  Gospel.  "  Behold  the  Son  of  God,"  say  they, 
"  contesting  about  the  point  of  knowing  whether  or 
not  it  is  right  to  wash  the  hands  before  eating  dinner  !  " 
Happily  for  us,  the  Son  of  God  despised  less  than 
those  our  littleness.  He  willed  this  dispute  as  he 
willed  to  appease  the  tempest,  as  he  willed  to  resus- 
citate Lazarus,  as  he  willed  to  die  on  the  cross.  The 
childish  question  of  the  Pharisees  gives  him  an  op- 
portunity to  point  out  the  character  of  true  purifica- 
tion, as  distinguished  from  formalism,  in  which  the 
pharisaical  mind  made  piety  consist. 

He  severely  reproves  those  censures  which  manifest 
so  much  respect  for  the  minuteness  of  a  tradition  pure- 
ly human,  but  which  did  not  fear  to  violate  the  most 
essential  precepts  ;  scrupulously  cleansing  the   rim  of 


The  Life  of  our  Lord  j'csus  Christ. 


237 


the  vessel,  and  leaving  foulness  at  its  bottom  ;  filter- 
ing the  water  to  avoid  swallowing  a  gnat,  and  yet  swal- 
lowing a  camel  lie  rebukes  them  for  having  a  tradi- 
tion, or  rather  a  sophism,  which  dispenses  the  son  from 
assisting  the  father,  even  in  need,  provided  he  does 
not  fail  to  make  an  offering  to  the  Temple.  "  Ye 
hypocrites  !  you  pretend  to  be  very  holy  by  dispensing 
with  the  commandments  of  God  to  attach  yourselves 
to  your  traditions."  lie  then  addresses  himself  to  the 
people,  who  had  not  heard  this  reprimand,  and,  with 
upraised  voice,  he  continues:  "All  of  you  pay  attcn 
tion  and  understand  well  :  not  what  enters  a  man's 
body  defiles  it  ;  what  proceeds  from  a  man — that  ib 
what  defiles  him." 

The  disciples,  alarmed  at  the  wrath  of  the  Pharisees, 
perhaps  scandalized  themselves,  ask  an  explanation  of 
an  expression  new  to  them,  and  which  seemed  op- 
posed to  a  prohibition  so  respected  as  that  against  eat- 
ing unclean  meats.  This  Jewish  barrier  too  must  disap- 
pear, but  later.  Peter,  according  to  usage,  had  spoken 
for  all.  The  Master  replies  :  "  What  enters  man  from 
outside  cannot  defile  him,  because  it  docs  not  enter  in 
the  heart;  but  what  goes  out  of  the  mouth  proceeds 
from  the  heart.  It  is  from  the  interior  and 
from  the  heart  of  man  that  wicked  thoughts  proceed  ; 
impurities,  homicides,  robberies,  avarice,  blasphemies, 
pride,  and  every  other  crime — that  is  what  renders  im- 
pure, and  not  eating  with  unwashed  hands" — fruitful 
words  of  the  number  of  those  which  have  given  to  man 
new  thoughts,  and  which  have  given  him  knowledge 
of  himself.  The  heart  of  man,  says  Origen,  is  great 
whilst  it  is  clean  ;  its  corporeal  littleness  hinders  it  not 
from  receiving  the  Lord,  who  is  spirit.  When  the  heart 
of  man  possesses  cleanness,  it  embraces  truth. 


I 


238  The  Life  of  our  Lord  ycsits  Christ. 

Jesus  quitted  this  place,  and  went  away  to  the  con- 
fines of  Tyre  and  Sidon.  After  having  condemned  the 
superstitious  observances  of  the  Jews,  who  did  not  wish 
to  hear  him,  he  directs  his  attention  toward  the  pa- 
gans. From  this  we  derive  instruction  analogous  to 
that  we  infer  from  his  mission  to  Sichar,  in  Samaria. 
The  patient  Master  accommodates  himself  to  the  weak- 
ness of  the  disciples,  and  often  repeats  the  same  les- 
sons, but  adds  thereto  each  time  something  which  en- 
graves it  better  on  their  enlarged  intelligence.  This 
time  he  conceals  himself,  because  the  time  of  his 
preaching  to  the  Gentiles  had  not  yet  arrived.  How- 
ever, among  the  throng,  that  must  not  know  his  pre- 
sence, there  was  one  faithful,  believing  soul,  whom  he 
was  anxious  to  recompense,  and  that  one  knew  well 
how  to  approach  him. 

A  Chanaanite  woman,  from  the  country  of  Syro- 
Phcenicia,  rushed  towards  Jesus,  saying  and  crying  out 
along  the  road  :  "  O  Lord,  Son  of  David  !  have  pity  en 
me  ;  my  daughter  is  cruelly  tormented  with  a  devil." 
The  Holy  Ghost,  who  inspires  prayer,  says  all  in  a  few 
words:  "Lord" — this  woman  confesses  his  divinity. 
"  Son  of  David  " — she  confesses  his  humanity.  "  Have 
pity  on  me  " — she  does  not  say,  Have  pity  on  my 
daughter;  for  the  affliction  of  the  daughter  is  the 
grief  of  the  mother  herself.  "  My  daughter  is  cruelly 
tormented  with  a  devil."  Behold  the  malady  ex- 
posed to  the  Physician  in  all  its  force  and  in  all  its 
gravity. 

The  action  of  the  Chanaanite  woman  is  as  sagacious 
as  her  prayer.  She  asks  nothing  from  men.  Relying 
on  faith,  she  addresses  herself  directly  to  God. 

However,  Jesus  seems  not  to  hear  her,  and  answers 
her  not   a  word.     The  disciples,  compassionating  her 


r 

) 


The  Life  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ.  239 

sorrow  or  importuned  by  her  wailings,  implore  him  to 
dismiss   her   by   granting   her  what  she   solicited.     He  ( 

tells  them  he  had  been  sent  only  to  the  lost  sheep  of 
the  house  of  Israel,  and  he  continues  his  course.     But  \ 

the  Chanaanite  woman,  manifesting  as  much  faith  as 
maternal  love,  follows  him,  and  enters  into  the  house 
where  he  was.  She  casts  herself  at  his  feet,  crying  out 
always  :  "  Lord,  assist  me  ;  deliver  my  daughter  from 
the  devil."  Then,  with  a  severity  which  was  not  usual 
to  him,  and  in  order  that  this  pagan  might  know  the 
power  of  faith,  he  says  to  her  :  "  Let  the  children  be 
first  satisfied  ;  for  it  is  not  proper  to  take  the  bread  of 
the  children  and  cast  it  before  dogs."  This  harshness 
(doubtless  tempered  by  his  tone)  could  not  repulse  or 
dishearten  this  suppliant.     "It  is  true,  O  Lord  !  "  she 


replies;  "but  even  little  dogs  may  eat  the  crumbs  of 
bread   that   fall    from  the   children's   table."      By   this 


trait  of  humility,  after  a  perseverance  so  determined, 
Jesus,  as  it  were  conquered,  says  to  her:  "  O  woman  ! 
your  faith  is  great.  Be  it  done  to  you  as  you  wish. 
6*">,  your  daughter  is  cured."  \ 

The  daughter  of  the  Chanaanite  woman  and  the  ser- 
vant   of    the   centurion    are   both    cured    without    the 


Saviour  having  entered  their  houses.  The  nations  that 
Christ  had  not  visited  were  to  be  saved  by  his  word 
and  by  the  prayers  of  his  Church.  The  Church  is  this 
mother,  whose  tenderness  and  faith  never  allows  her  to 
be  repulsed.  She  goes  on  saying  always  :  "  O  Lord  ! 
have  pity  on  me  ;  heal  my  sick  child."  Like  the  wo- 
man afflicted  with  an  issue  of  blood,  and  like  the 
Samaritan  woman,  both  of  whom  set  out  from  their 
homes,  so  the  Chanaanite  woman  quitted  her  native 
country  ;  and  she  symbolizes  the  Gentiles.  Like  Ruth 
the  Moabite,  named  among  the  ancestors  of  the  Lord. 


240  The  Life  of  our  Lord  J^esus  Christ. 

she  is  admitted  into  the  house  of  God  by  the  power  of 
her  love  and  of  her  faith. 

Jesus  then  quits  the  country.  If  he  did  not  perform 
other  miracles  in  it,  this  one,  by  which  he  powerfully 
inculcates  the  efficacy  of  prayer,  contains  a  second  les- 
son ;  it  teaches  us  that  the  welfare  of  one  soul  sufficed 
for  the  Son  of  God  to  undertake  the  labors  of  a  special 
mission. 

He  returns  to  the  shores  of  the  Galilean  sea,  and  as 
soon  as  they  know  of  his  return  thereto  they  bring  to 
him  a  man  deaf  and  dumb.  He  draws  him  aside, 
touches  his  ears  and  tongue,  and  raises  up  his  eyes  to 
heaven  and  sighs.  Then  he  says  :  "  EpJiplicta  "  (be 
opened),  and  the  deaf  mute  hears  and  speaks. 

The  removal  from  the  throng  of  people,  the  eyes  ele- 
vated to  heaven,  and  the  sigh,  are  to  warn  the  apostles 
against  vainglory  ;  to  remember  that  it  is  from  heaven 
we  must  expect  all  good  ;  that  everything  is  obtained 
of  God  by  heart-felt  prayer  ;  and  that  humility  is  by 
far  more  powerful  than  miracles.  This  sighing,  which 
was  in  Jesus  the  effect  of  compassion,  ought  to  be  in 
us  the  disavowal  and  the  expiation  of  evil.  When  we 
know  how  to  lament,  to  mourn,  it  is  then  we  efficaci- 
ously demand  deliverance  from  the  consequences  of  sin. 

Jesus  touches  the  infirm  man  to  show  that  his  body, 
united  to  the  Divinity,  is  enriched  with  the  power  of 
the  Divinity,  and  works  divinely  ;  and  this  fact  is  an 
argument   against  future   heresies.     Appearing   in  our  j 

flesh,  he  has  shown  it  re-established  in  all  its  perfection,  j 

and  invested  with  all  the  glory  which  shall  be  given  to 
it.  He  makes  use  of  his  finger  to  open  the  closed  ear, 
and  of  his  spittle  to  loose  the  mute  tongue,  and  at  length 
he  commands,  EpJiplicta.  The  two  natures  are  here 
distinguished    without    separation.       He    prays,    sighs 


The  Life  of  our  Lord  jfesus  Christ.  24  1 

mcKirns,  and  toils  as  man.  He  heals  the  deaf  man  with 
one  word  of  God  alone  :  "  Be  opened." 

Other  miracles  follow  in  great  numbers.  The  dumb 
speak,  the  lame  walk,  the  blind  see.  A  shout  of  joy 
bursts  forth  from  the  hearts  of  the  multitudes  :  "  He 
has  done  all  things  well."  All  publish  the  praises  of 
the  God  of  Israel. 

As  the  multitude  was  considerable  and  the  place  a 
desert,  Jesus  renews  the  miracle  of  the  multiplication 
of  the  loaves.  The  disciples  had  already  forgotten  the 
first.  They  were  yet  preoccupied  about  the  means 
whereby  they  could  purchase  so  much  bread,  so  as  to 
feed  and  satisfy  more  than  four  thousand  persons,  ex- 
clusive of  the  women  and  children.  There  were  there 
but  seven  loaves  and  a  few  little  fishes.  Jesus  blessed 
them  with  that  benediction  by  which  at  the  beginning 
the  Word  gave  to  creatures  the  virtue  of  increasing  and 
multiplying,  and  they  multiply  in  his  hands  as  the  grain 
multiplies  in  the  earth.  All  ate  and  were  satisfied,  and 
with  the  crumbs  that  remained  they  filled  up  seven 
baskets. 

Besides  divers  particular  senses,  very  copious  and 
very  beautiful,  the  two  miracles  of  the  multiplication 
of  the  bread  have  a  general  sense  which  is  peculiar  to 
them,  and  by  which  they  are  the  complement  one  of 
the  other.  Before  examining  it  let  us  turn  our 
thoughts  to  the  solution  that  the  teaching  which  re- 
sults from  these  miracles  can  actually  give  to  one  of 
the  greatest  difficulties  of  the  world.  The  point  in 
question    is    the    multiplication    and    distribution    of 


C 
riches. 

The  problem  to  solve  is  how  to  give  food  to  nourish 

a  whole   people  :    five    thousand  the   first  time  ;  four 

thousand  the  second,  besides  the  women  and  children  ; 


242  The  Life  of  our  Lord  Jïsus  Christ. 

on  both  occasions  their  numbers  might  at  least  be 
doubled.  To  face  the  want  there  was  nothing.  They 
were  in  the  desert.  The  apostles,  who  represented  hu- 
man power,  were  disquieted  at  the  situation.  They 
propose  to  Jesus  what  human  wisdom  may  propose: 
"  Dismiss  this  vast  throng,  so  that  each  one  may  pro- 
vide for.  himself  the  best  he  can."  Jesus  replies: 
"Give  them  bread  to  eat  yourselves." 

The  apostles  then  thought  of  purchasing  bread,  and 
generously  desired  to  employ  all  they  possessed  for  that 
object.  A  sudden  and  sad  reflection  discourages  them. 
Even  should  they  put  together  for  this  purpose  the 
two  hundred  silver  pennies  (probably  more  than  the 
common  purse  contained),  this  would  not  be  sufficient 
to  give  each  of  them  a  morsel.  However,  according  to 
their  human  views,  there  was  no  other  alternative.  It 
seems  they  must  now  leave  the  vast  multitude  to  them- 
selves to  do  the  best  they  can,  without  regard  to  the 
feeble  and  little  ones — that  is,  sacrifice  the  poor  or  cast 
into  a  gulf  the  public  treasure  ;  that  is,  sacrifice  the 
rich  ;   and  even  this  sacrifice  would  be  insufficient. 

A  third  means  is  suggested,  but  suggested  with 
shamefacedness,  so  foolish  does  it  appear.  Among  this 
famishing  multitude  there  is  one  rich  person  found — a 
boy  having  five  barley  loaves  and  two  little  fishes.  He 
possesses  more  than  is  required  for  him.  They  despoil 
this  rich  one,  who  possesses  too  much,  for  the  good  of 
those  who  have  nothing,  and  make  his  abundance,  his 
five  barley  loaves  and  two  little  fishes,  common  pro- 
perty. "  But,"  says  the  inventor  of  the  plan,  "what  is 
all  that  to  divide  among  so  many  mouths?" 

To  abandon  the  poor,  to  feed  them  for  a  moment 
at  the  expense  of  the  state,  to  ruin  the  state  by  de- 
spoiling the  rich  without  benefiting  any  one,  and  with- 


The  Life  of  our  Lord  yes  us  Christ,  243 


out  saving  the  state  from  peril — so  this  problem  pre- 
sents itself.  More  and  more  governments  behold 
themselves  hemmed  in  by  these  perilous  abysses.  Out 
of  them  no  political  science  can  find  an  issue. 

In  the  Gospel  history  Jesus  interposes.  Jesus  is 
bound  to  provide  for  this  vast  throng  of  people,  who 
have  followed  him  into  the  desert  to  hear  his  word, 
and  who  consequently  have  fulfilled  the  precept  "  of  \ 

first  seeking  the  kingdom  of  God."  > 

First  of  all,  he  commands  the  apostles  to  create  order 
among  the  crowd,  and  to  distribute  them  in  groups  of 
hundreds  and  fifties,  and  to  make  them  sit  down  on 
the  greensward.      Then,  when  the  mob   is  put  in  that 


order,  which  places  each  band  and  each  individual 
under  the  direction  of  a  pastor,  he  orders  the  slender 
provisions  which  they  had  discovered  to  be  brought  to 
him,  and  he  blesses  them.  It  is  to  him  they  bring 
them,  because  to  him  they  belong,  as  the  Creator  of 
all  and  every  good,  of  all  wealth,  riches,  and  power,  and 
the  Master  of  all  creatures.     Raising  his  eyes  to  hea- 


ven, he  blesses  them,   because  it  is  of  God  we  must 


implore  every  blessing  and  every  increase.  He  distri- 
butes them  by  the  hands  of  the  apostles,  because  it  is 
he  who  has  the  right  to  dispose  of  them.  They  suffice, 
because  his  benediction  has  multiplied  them.     Much  is  ! 

left  of  them  after  each  one  has  eaten  and  is  satisfied,  > 

because  God  gives  all  things  abundantly;  because  he 
has  made  this  law  :  that  alms  impoverish  not  him  who 
bestows  them,  but,  on  the  contrary,  enrich  him. 
Such  is  the  social  economy  of  the  Gospel,  to  inspire 
the  people  with  a  taste  for  the  things  of  God  ;  to  estab- 
lish order  among  them,  and  provide  them  with  pastors  ; 
to  teach  them  to  despise  the   unlawful  desires  which 


render  them   insatiable  ;   to   ask   of  God  to  bless  and 


244  The  Life  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ. 

multiply  the  real,  material  riches  which  are  necessary 
for  our  existence.  Nowadays  all  that  evangelical  econ- 
omy is  despised  ;  but  the  abyss  of  pauperism  is  opened 
up,  and  for  a  remedy  communism  is  seriously  proposed. 
One  can  already  foresee  that  the  communistic  institu- 
tions will  open  circuses  more  easily  than  they  will  give 
bread. 

The  mystical  signification  of  the  twofold  multiplica- 
tion of  bread  is,  as  in  many  other  miracles,  the  accom- 
plishment of  the  law  by  the  institution  of  the  Eucharist 
and  the  ministry  of  the  Church. 

"  I  have  pity  on  this  people,"  says  Jesus  before  the 
second  miracle.  "  They  have  nothing  to  eat  ;  and  if  I 
send  them  away  hungry,  their  strength  may  fail  them 
on  the  way,  for  many  have  come  from  afar  off."  Else- 
where it  is  said  that  Jesus  regarded  them  with  compas- 
sion, "  because  they  wander  as  sheep  without  a  shep- 
herd." But  Jesus  is  come  into  the  world  to  feed  and 
nourish  them,  and  to  give  them  pastors  whom  he  will 
have  chosen  ;  and  he  it  is  who  will  be,  at  the  same 
time,  the  everlasting  and  supreme  food  and  nourish- 
ment, and  the  Eternal  and  Supreme  Pastor. 

The  first  miracle  feeds  and  nourishes  five  thousand, 
all  from  that  country.  This  is  the  number  of  those  who 
will  be  converted  at  the  second  preaching  of  St.  Peter, 
and  who  will  be  all  Jews.  At  the  second  miracle  there 
were  four  thousand,  "  come  from  afar  off,"  according  to 
the  remark  of  the  Lord.  By  the  number  of  four  thou- 
sand the  miracle  is  already  figurative  of  the  conversion 
of  the  Gentiles,  who  were  bound  to  come  from  each 
quarter  of  the  globe,  and,  as  the  Scripture  says,  "  from 
the  four  winds."  At  first  the  apostles  consider  the  wants 
of  the  multitude.  They  are  weighing  the  matter  of  send- 
ing them  away,  so  as  they  may  go  off  to  provide  for  them- 


'~î 


The  Life  of  cur  Lord  yesus  Christ.  245 

selves,  each  one  as  best  he  can.  This  is  the  character 
}  of  the  Jewish  priesthood.     It  has  nothing  to  give  to 

J  "  strangers,"  and  little  to  others.     Nevertheless,  even 

this  anxiety  of  dispersing  them  indicates  some  interest 
in  their  well-being.  The  patriarchs  and  prophets  pray- 
ed to  God  for  the  people  of  Israel. 

The  second  time,  though  the  throng  was  there  a  long 
while,  and  the  desert  more  arid,  no  one  thinks  that 
they  can  suffer  from  hunger.  Jesus  only  thinks  on 
them  ;  he  only  has  had  pity  on  the  sad  and  afflicted 
throng  of  nations  :  he  casts  on  them  a  look  of  tender 
love.  "  I  do  not  wish  they  should  depart  hence  with- 
out food.     They  will  faint  on  the  road." 

In  the  first  miracle  there  were  five  barley  loaves  ;  in 
the  second,  seven  loaves  of  wheat-bread.  The  Evan- 
gelists, says  St.  Cyril,  could  have  contented  themselves 
with  relating  that  the  Saviour  satisfied  avast  multitude 
of  people  with  a  little  food  carried  by  a  child.  Since 
they  so  exactly  marked  the  number  and  the  quality  of 
the  loaves,  it  is  clear  that  these  circumstances  conceal 
a  mystery. 

In  effect,  the  five  loaves  of  the  first  miracle  indicate 
the  rites  of  the  Old  Law  contained  in  the  five  books 
of  Moses,  whence  the  Jewish  people  drew  their  spiri- 
tual food  ;  and  the  seven  loaves  in  the  second  miracle 
admirably  represent  the  Evangelical  Law,  in  which  the 
seven-fold  grace  of  the  Holy  Ghost  is  distributed  to  all 
the  faithful  by  the  preaching  of  the  Word  and  by  the 
sacraments.  These  seven  loaves,  says  the  Venerable 
Bede,  represent  the  seven  sacraments  instituted  by 
Jesus  Christ  to  nourish  Christians  on  their  journey  to 
eternity. 

The  five  loaves  of  the  first  miracle  were  barley. 
Barley   is   the    food    of   beasts   of   burden   and    slaves. 


246 


The  Life  of  our  Lord  yesus  Christ. 


The  spirit  of  the  Old  Law  was  a  spirit  of  fear  and  ser- 
vitude. The  nutritive  part  of  the  barley  is  recovered 
from  very  tough  coverings  ;  the  vital  food  of  the  soul, 
in  the  Mosaic  law,  was  enveloped  in  very  thick  cover- 
ings. The  barley  loaves  are  found  in  the  possession  of 
a  child,  who  carried  them  without  eating  them  ;'  the 
Mosaic  books  were  placed  in  the  hands  of  a  priesthood 
and  a  people  who  understood  them  but  in  a  childish 
sense,  and  who  even  observed  them  without  reaping 
any  profit  from  them. 

The  wheat  of  which  the  seven  loaves  of  the  second 
miracle  are  formed  is  the  nourishment  of  men,  the 
prophesied  nurture  :  "  He  has  nurtured  them  Avith  the 
purest  wheat  ;  by  the  product  of  the  wheat  are  they 
multiplied."  Thus  had  David  chanted  this  feast  of  the 
Messias,  and  nothing  can  better  express  the  spirit  of 
the  New  Law,  the  sweetness,  the  grace,  the  love,  the 
abundance,  of  Christ. 

Christ  himself  is  typified  in  the  feast.  The  fish 
drawn  through  the  fire  represents  Jesus  Christ  from  the 
hour  of  his  Passion.  This  symbol  is  as  ancient  as  the 
Church.  Père  Ventura  thinks  the  two  fishes  indicate 
the  two  characters  of  priest  and  victim  which  Jesus 
united  together  on  the  Cross.  The  five  barley  loaves 
and  the  seven  wheat  loaves  :  the  rites  of  the  Mosiac 
law  and  the  sacraments  of  the  new  law  draw  their  effi- 
cacy for  the  salvation  of  souls  from  his  immolation. 

Jesus  did  not  see  fit  to  create  out  of  nothing,  which 
he  could  have  done,  those  loaves  with  which  he  fed  the 
multitude  ;  nor  did  he  desire  to  command  them  to  fall 
from  heaven,  like  the  manna,  in  sufficient  abundance. 
On  the  one  hand,  the  bread  had  already  descended  ;  it 
existed,  such  as  he  wished  to  give  them.  It  was  him- 
self.    He  multiplies    it  ;    he    only    multiplies    it    by    a 


The  Life  of  our  Lord  jfesus  Christ.  247 

miracle  as  great  as  the  Creation,  to  indicate  that  it  is 
indeed  himself,  and  that  he  gives  his  own  bodily  sub- 
stance. On  the  other  hand,  really  receiving  the  loaves 
and  the  fishes  from  the  hands  of  the  apostles,  he  sup- 
plies anew  instructions.  At  the  same  time  he  makes 
man  co-worker  with  himself  in  his  heavenly  labor,  as  he 
did  on  innumerable  occasions  by  other  acts,  nota- 
bly by  the  institution  of  the  apostles  ;  he  confirms  the 
ministry  of  the  Church  ;  he  completes,  in  fine,  the  sym- 
bol which  it  has  pleased  him  to  give,  and  renders  more 
sensible  the  truth  he  wishes  to  instruct  us  in.  In  the 
sacraments  he  does  not  create  ;  he  receives  from  the 
Church  the  matter  of  which  they  are  formed. 

In  the  hands  of  the  disciples  the  loaves  were  un- 
savory, insufficient,  useless  ;  in  the  hands  of  Jesus,  and 
by  his  benediction,  they  were  multiplied,  they  acquired 
a  marvellous  virtue,  they  sufficed,  and  some  were  left. 
So  the  water,  the  bread,  the  wine,  the  oil — matter  of 
the  sacraments — are  of  themselves  incapable  of  pro- 
ducing any  moral  effect  ;  but  by  the  benediction  of 
Jesus  Christ  this  matter  receives  the  virtue  of  confer- 
ring and  augmenting  the  grace  which  satisfies  the  soul 
and  fills  it  with  spiritual  strength. 

The  fishes,  like  the  bread,  are  carried  by  the  apostles. 
The  fish  arc  the  booty  of  the  fishermen,  who  have 
caught  them  in  deep  waters — there  where  they  were 
told  to  cast  out  their  nets.  The  most  intimate  pos- 
session of  Jesus  Christ  is  the  lot  of  those  who  have 
given  themselves  more  than  others  to  him,  who  have 
with  greater  eagerness  heard  his  word,  whom  he  has 
chosen  ami  with  whom  he  dwells.  They  distribute  the 
bread  by  preaching,  especially  by  the  preaching  of  his 
sufferings,  which  attracts  people  to  the  sacraments  and 
communicates  to  them  his  divine  sweetness.     "  I  preach 


The  Life  of  cur  Lord  ye  su  s  Chrisf. 

but  Jesus  Christ,  and  Jesus  Christ  crucified,"  says  St. 
Paul.  The  fish  is  with  the  bread,  because  the  preach- 
ing of  the  mysteries  of  Jesus  Christ  enlightens  the 
understanding;  whilst  the  bread  of  the  sacraments 
nourishes  the  heart,  and  both  are  the  nourishment  of 
God's  people. 

The  fathers  make  another  remark.  As  the  loaves, 
they  say,  were  sufficient  only  because  Jesus  Christ 
blessed  them,  we  only  see  their  interior  because  he 
broke  them.  Thus  we  know  that  the  prophecies  of 
the  Old  Law  and  the  mysteries  of  the  New  Law  would 
remain  concealed  from  us,  if  we  had  not  the  divine  light 
of  the  Word.  Neither  would  the  ancient  rites  nor  the 
new  sacraments  possess  any  virtue  to  support  the 
Jewish  people  and  to  nourish  the  Christian  people  if 
Jesus  Christ  had  not  at  first  himself  in  figure,  then  in 
reality,  given  fecundity  to  them  by  his  all-powerful 
benediction.  This  benediction,  pronounced  at  the 
commencement  of  the  world  on  all  creatures,  gives 
to  them  life  through  the  faculty  of  reproducing  and 
multiplying  themselves  ;  the  same  benediction,  pro- 
nounced on  the  spiritual  institutions  of  the  law  and 
the  Gospel,  assures  to  each  of  them  duration  and  effi- 
cacy without  measure. 

Thus  the  first  miracle  typifies  the  ancient  covenant  ; 
the  second  the  new.  And  in  both  Jesus  having  oper- 
ated, he  indicates  to  us  thereby  that  the  heavenly 
Mediator,  born  according  to  the  flesh,  in  the  fulness 
of  time,  is  also  the  Word  of  God  anterior  to  time — the 
God  of  the  law  and  the  God  of  the  Gospel,  who  gave 
to  the  prophets  the  knowledge  of  the  future  mysteries, 
to  the  apostles  the  knowledge  of  mysteries  accomplish- 
ed; the  same  who  nourished  the  Jewish  people  with 
the  barley-corn  of  the  figurative  sacraments,  and  who 


The  Life  of  our  Lord  yes  us  Christ.  249 


power,    immediately  through  faith  ;    and   that,    conse- 
quently, there  is  no  need   of  bishop   nor  of  sacerdotal 

)  intervention. 

Assuredly  Jesus  could  cause  it  to  be  so.  He  could 
accomplish  all  by  himself,  without  recurring  to  the  dis- 
ciples ;  but  assuredly  he  employed  them  not  without 
design.  This  design  the  apostles  understood  from 
the  Saviour  himself.  "  Let  every  one,"  says  he,  "  con- 
sider us  as  the  ministers  of  Jesus  Christ  and  the  dis- 
pensers of  the  mysteries  of  God."  All  the  circum- 
stances of  both  miracles  reveal  this  doctrine. 

1  Jesus  commences  by  saying  to  the  apostles:   "It  is 


feeds  the  Christian  people  with  the  wheat  of  the  real 
sacraments. 

However,  Jesus  does  not  wish  to  crush  human 
liberty  under  the  weight  of  miracles.  What  he  does 
so  well  the  enemy,  whom  he  lets  free  for  a  time,  will 
undertake  to  destroy.  Satan  will  raise  up  heretics  who 
will  endeavor  to  infuse  poison  into  the  bread  that 
Christ  gives.  The  providence  of  Christ  foresaw  this 
danger.  Without  taking  away  from  men  the  merit 
of  combating  it,  he  furnishes  them  in  advance  the 
means  to  avoid  it.  With  this  power  and  this  sovereign 
wisdom,  which  by  one  word  can  enlighten  four  thou- 
sand years  of  mystery,  by  an  act  of  the  will  can  mul- 
tiply and  enlarge  a  morsel  of  bread  so  as  to  feed  and 
nourish  a  people,  Jesus  also  concentrates  in  a  few 
words  and  in  a  few  simple  circumstances  instructions 
which  will  baffle  all  the  subtleties  of  heresy,  even  to 
the  end  of  the  world. 

Heresy  will  deny  the  necessity  of  the  ecclesiastical 
ministry  for  the  dispensing  of  the  doctrine  and  the 
grace  of  Jesus  Christ.     It  will  pretend  that  everybody 


) 

) 
) 

\  can   obtain   light  from   God,  without   any   intervening 

( 
( 


25° 


77/i?  Life  of  our  Lord  Jesus   Christ. 


not  necessary  to  send  away  these  people  ;  give  them  to 
eat."  By  this  mysterious  language,  prophetic  of  what 
was  going  to  happen,  Jesus,  remarks  Origen,  gives  ex- 
clusively to  the  apostles  and  their  successors  the 
power  of  nourishing  and  feeding  the  faithful  people. 
He  fixes  from  that  moment,  adds  St.  Ambrose,  the 
economy  of  the  evangelical  preaching  for  the  food  and 
nourishment  of  souls.  "  Give  them  to  eat."  This  is  the 
very  same  word  that  will  be  said  to  them  at  a  later 
period  :  "  Go,  teach  all  nations,  baptizing  them  in  the 
name  of  the  Father,  and  of  the  Son,  and  of  the  Holy 
Ghost  ;  whosoever  shall  believe  and  be  baptized  shall 
be  saved." 

The  apostles  put  in  order  the  vast  multitude,  and 
make  them  sit  down  on  the  grass.  They  group  them 
in  distinct  bands.  We  might  say  they  arrange  and 
place  them  in  order  by  dioceses,  by  churches.  There- 
fore it  is  the  will  of  God  that  it  does  not  belong  to  the 
faithful  to  unite  themselves  in  religious  assemblies  nor 
to  govern  themselves.  To  the  bishops  only,  as  the 
apostle  teaches,  belongs  the  care  of  establishing  and 
governing  churches. 

Jesus  does  not  distribute  with  his  hand  the  miracu- 
lous bread,  but,  as  the  evangelists  remark  with  a  sort 
of  emphasis,  he  gives  it  to  the  apostles,  so  that  the 
people  might  receive  it  ;  and  they,  the  apostles,  gave 
to  each  one  his  share.  Thus  it  is  the  divine  wisdom 
of  Jesus  Christ  which  establishes  the  means  by  which 
he  wishes  that  life  may  be  distributed  in  his  Church. 

He  does  not  give  to  the  apostles  the  loaves  entire, 
but  broken.  He  opens  them,  just  as,  before  giving 
them  the  supreme  order  to  distribute  the  Gospel,  he 
opens  out  to  them  the  mysteries  of  the  Scriptures. 
How  is  it  people  do  not  understand  by  that  manner  of 


The  Life  of  our  Lord  yesus  Christ.  251 

acting,  asks  St.  Augustine,  that  he  has  confided  to  the 
bishops  and  to  the  priests  only  the  true  sense  of  his 
mysteries  and  the  distribution  of  the  sacred  aliment? 
Finally,  when  the  multitude  were  satisfied,  he  com- 
mands the  apostles  to  gather  up  the  remains.  At  the 
first  miracle  they  fill  up  twelve  baskets  brimful  ;  and 

I  these   twelve  baskets   arc   the    twelve    apostles    them- 

selves,   who    will    contain     henceforth,    teeminsj    and 

)  ^  >  t>  ( 

abundant,  the  doctrine  hitherto  bound  up,  as  if  bar- 
ren, in  the  five  books  of  Moses.  The  apostles  appear- 
ed then  of  little  worth  in  the  eyes  of  worldly  men  ; 
however,  these  fragile  baskets,  mean  and  despicable  in 
appearance,  are  interiorly  enriched  with  the  treasures 
of   God.       At    the    second    miracle,    after     the    seven 

)  loaves,  there   are    seven    basket  fuis.     As  for  me,  says 

)  ( 

St.  John  Chrysostom,  I  do  not  admire  less  the  miracle 

of  this  superabundance  than  the  miracle  which  fur- 
nished what  was  necessary.  The  seven  basketfuls  are 
the  seven  sacraments,  always  prepared  and  ready  for 
the  faithful  people  ;  ever  living,  immortal  as  the  God 
who  instituted  them.  But  what  became  of  the  seven 
basketfuls  ?  They  remain  at  the  disposal  of  the 
apostles  ;  so  that,  says  Origen,  the  seven  baskets  or 
hampers  of  the  living  and  spiritual  bread,  the  seven 
sacraments,  have  been  left  by  Jesus  Christ  in  the  hands 
of  the  ministers  of  the  Church,  who  have  cared  for 
them  and  preserved  them,  even  to  the  present  time, 
and  will  preserve,  guard,  and  defend  them  till  the  end 
of  time. 

All  this  happened  at  evening,  at  the  hour  the  sun 
declines,  at  the  hour  of  the  cross. 


CHAPTER  II. 


THE    BLIND   MAN    OF   BETHSAIDA- 
PETER — THABOR. 


-CONFESSION    OF 


NOW  the  Pharisees  and  the  Sadducees,  irreconcil. 
able  among  themselves,  but  perfectly  in  accord 
against  Jesus,  according  to  the  constant  usage  of  sec- 
taries and  infidels,  endeavored  to  withdraw  the  con- 
fidence of  the  people  from  him,  so  that  they  might 
more  easily  afterwards  deprive  him  of  his  life  and 
liberty. 

They  always  approach  him  suddenly  and  una- 
wares, always  artfully  surprise  and  ensnare  him. 
Once  more  they  ask  him  to  work  wonders  in  the 
heavens  for  them.  Jesus  replies  to  them  that  they 
knew  well  when  the  heavens  portended  calmness  or  a 
storm,  but  that  their  hypocrisy  hindered  them  from 
learning  to  know  the  time  they  lived  in,  and  to  discern 
what  is  right  ;  that  is  to  say,  they  did  not  wish  to  see 
that  the  epoch  of  the  Messias  had  arrived.  Heaving 
a  deep  sigh,  he  again  declares  that  that  perverse  and 
wicked  race  should  have  no  other  sign  than  that  of 
Jonas  ;  and  he  left  them. 

He  betakes  himself  to  Bethsaida,  where  he  restores 
sight  to  a  blind  man,  with  these  particular  circumstan- 
ces :  that  the  healing,  instead  of  being  sudden,  is  per- 
formed only  by  degrees.     Jesus  takes  the  blind  man  by 

252 


The  Life  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ.  253 

the  hand,  and  leads  him  out  of  the  town  ;  touches  his 
eyes  with  spittle,  lays  hands  on  him,  and  asks  him  if  he 
sees  anything.  The  blind  man  says  :  "I  see  men  walk- 
ing who  appear  to  me  like  trees."  Jesus  again  lays  his 
hand  on  his  eyes.  The  blind  man  begins  to  see,  and  at 
length  is  healed.  } 

These  circumstances  are  for  the  instruction  of  preach- 
ers  and  the  ministers  of  the  Gospel.  The  Saviour, 
says  Bede,  takes  the  hand  of  the  blind  man,  in  order 
to  render  him  capable  of  practising  good  works.  He 
conducts  him  out  of  the  city.  Man,  separated  from  the 
world,  meditates  better  on  divine  truths.  Whoever 
desires  to  be  illuminated  with  the  eternal  light  must 
follow  Jesus  into  solitude.  If  Jesus  does  not  heal  the 
blind  man  by  a  single  word  only,  it  is  to  show  the 
depth  of  our  blindness,  and  so  that  his  priests  may 
learn  not  to  despair,  but  redouble  their  efforts  by 
prayer  and  patience,  when  the  ignorant  and  the  sin- 
ner arrive  only  by  degrees,  almost  insensibly,  to  the 
vision  of  the  truth.  The  Lord  uses  spittle  with  the 
imposition  of  hands  ;  thus  does  he  act  every  day, 
teaching  men  in  two  ways  :  by  the  invisible  gifts  of  the 


Spirit,  and  by  the  visible  sacrament  of  his  Incarnation 
The  order  he  gives  to  the  blind  man  cured  is  to  return 
into  his  house  ;  he  warns  the  sinner  to  look  into  his 
own  heart,  to  enter  into  his  interior,  and  meditate 
upon  the  benefits  of  God.  S 

Very  soon  after  Jesus  puts  to  the  test  the  faith  of 
the  apostles.  Being  on  the  road,  in  the  environs  of 
Cesarca,  he  suddenly  asks  them  :  "  Who  do  they  say 
is  the  Son  of  Man  ?  "  They  answer  him,  "  Some  think 
he  is  John  the  Baptist  ;  others  Elias  ;  others  Jeremias  ; 
others  one  of  the  ancient  prophets  arisen  from  the 
dead."     "  And   you  ?  "  says  he  to  them.     Simon  Peter  ,; 


The  Life  of  our  Lord  J"esus  Christ. 


responds:  "You  are  Christ,  Son  of  the  living  God." 
Jesus  says  to  him  :  "  Blessed  art  thou,  Simon,  son  of 
Jona,  for  flesh  and  blood  did  not  reveal  it  to  you,  but 
my  Father  who  is  in  heaven."  > 

The  quality,  son  of  Jona,  given  to  the  apostle,  re- 
ceives  from    the   circumstance    an    importance    quite  i 
peculiar.     Son  of  Jona  signifies  sou  of  the  dove.     Jona, 
father  of  Simon  Peter  according  to  flesh  and  blood,  is 
not  the  subject  of  consideration,  but  the  grace  which            ( 
Peter  received,  and  by  which  the  Spirit  of  truth,  the 
Dove   which  appeared  over  Jordan,  brought  forth  in            ( 
him  the  word  of  truth.                                                                        ( 

Jesus  adds  :  "  I  solemnly  declare  that  thou  art 
Peter,  and  on  this  rock  I  will  build  my  church,  and  the 
gates  of  hell  shall  not  prevail  against  it.  I  will  give  to 
thee  the  keys  of  the  kingdom  of  heaven.  And  what- 
soever you  will  bind  on  earth  shall  be  bound  in  heaven  : 
and  what  you  shall  loosen  on  earth  shall  be  loosed  in 
heaven." 

After  this  declaration  and  this  promise  he  expressly 
forbids  the  apostles  to  tell  any  one  that  he  was  the 
Christ.  Then  forthwith,  without  giving  them  time  to 
form  in  their  minds  a  flattering  image  of  the  glory  that 
awaited  them,  tearing  away  the  veil  of  the  future,  he 
points  out  to  them  Calvary.  "  He  commences  from 
that  instant  to  declare  to  them  that  he  must  go  to  Je- 
rusalem, to  endure  the  Passion,  to  be  condemned  by 
the  ancients,  by  the  high-priests,  and  by  the  scribes, 
be  put  to  death,  and  to  rise  up  again  on  the  third 
day."     He  spoke  to  them  thus  openly. 

Peter  cannot  understand  him.  "  No,  Lord.  God 
forbid  !  No.  It  shall  not  be  so."  But  Jesus,  looking 
on  the  apostles,  says  to  Peter  with  a  reproving  look  : 
"  Withdraw,  go  behind  me,  Satan  ;  you   are  to  me  a 


The  Life  of  oar  Lord  Jïsas  Christ.  255 

scandal,  for  you  have  no  desire  or  taste  for  the  things 
of  God."     Peter,  who   knew  that  Jesus  saw   the  love  ( 

of  his  heart,  neither  replies  nor  justifies  himself.     The 
\  others,  like  himself,  keep  silence.  \ 

Then  Jesus,  ordering  the  throng  to  approach  him, 
pronounces  unheard-of  words,  which  exceed  by  excess 
of  divine  greatness  all  that  the  masters  of  the  world 
could  say. 

"If  any  one  wishes  to  walk  in  my  footsteps,  let  him 
deny  himself;  let  him  carry  his  cross  daily,  and  let  him 
follow  me.  For  he  who  would  wish  to  save  his  life 
(at  the  expense  of  duty)  shall  lose  it  ;  and  who  loses 
his  life  for  my  sake  and  for  the  Gospel  shall  save  it. 
And  what  will  it  avail  a  man  to  gain  the  whole  world 
and  lose  his  own  soul  ?  " 

Behold  what  was  said  on  that  day  on  the  dusty  road 

not  far  from  Cesarea,  which  is  now  no  more.     It  is  thus 

\  that  Jesus  brought  down  from  above  a  new  fire  on  the 

earth;  it  is  thus  he  educated  Peter,  the  disciples,  and 

the   whole  world,  or,  rather,  he  created  a  new  human- 

j  ity. 

He  had  terminated  this  discourse  by  announcing  that 
many  among  his  disciples  would  not  taste  death  until 
they  should  have  seen  the  kingdom  of  God.  Eight 
days  after  this  promise  was  accomplished.  He  takes 
with  him  Peter,  James,  and  John,  and  conducts  them 
alone  and  apart  up  to  a  high  mountain,  where  he  be- 
comes absorbed  in  prayer.  Whilst  he  is  praying  he 
becomes  transfigured.  His  face  is  resplendent  as  the 
sun  ;  his  garments  shine  with  a  soft,  white,  living  light 
like  that  of  snow.  Near  him  two  men,  full  of  ma- 
jesty, who  were  Moses  and  Elias,  spoke  to  him  of  the 
death  he  was  about  to  suffer  at  Jerusalem.  Peter, 
astonished  and  overwhelmed  with  joy  at  the  sight,  says 
) 

! 

) 


256  The  Life  of  our  Lord  jtesus  Christ. 

to  Jesus:  "  Master,  it  is  good  for  us  to  be  here.  Let 
us  make  three  tents  here — one  for  you,  one  for  Moses, 
and  one  for  Elias."  The  apostles  were  wonderfully 
amazed.  They  were  plunged  in  a  mixture  of  joy  and 
terror.  When  Peter  spoke  again,  without  knowing 
what  he  said,  a  luminous  cloud  overshadowed  Moses 
and  Elias,  and  a  voice  descended  from  the  cloud,  which 
said  :  "  This  is  my  well-beloved  Son,  in  whom  I  place 
my  delight.  Hear  ye  him."  The  apostles  prostrate 
themselves  on  the  earth.  When  they  rose  up  at  the 
command  of  Jesus,  they  saw  him  alone.  He  had  sus- 
pended this  heavenly  splendor,  which  tended  continu- 
ally to  usurp  or  invade  his  humanity,  which  was  the 
proper  and  natural  state  of  the  only  Son  of  God,  but 
which,  by  his  omnipotence,  he  contains  within  him,  so 
that  the  Son  of  Man,  the  Victim,  might  not  disappear 
in  him.  For  the  wonder  was,  not  that  the  divinity 
should  throw  out  a  flood  of  heavenly  light,  but  that 
the  humanity  should  be  enabled  to  veil  it,  and  in  some 
sort  absorb  it. 

The  three  who  beheld  this  vision  of  Thabor — Peter, 
James,  and  John — were  the  same  whom  Jesus  retained 
near  him  to  be  witnesses  of  the  resurrection  of  the 
daughter  of  Jairus.  They  are  seen  apart  by  themselves 
in  the  Garden  of  Olives  at  the  hour  of  the  agony.  Peter 
was  the  chief  of  the  new  alliance  ;  James  must  be  the 
first  martyr  in  the  order  of  the  apostles  ;  John  repre- 
sented the  virgins  who  follow  the  Lamb  wherever  he 
goes — all  three,  represent  the  perfect  type  of  the  de- 
finitive priesthood  which  is  about  to  be  born  at  the 
foot  of  the  cross. 

The  glory  of  the  God-Man  was  not  to  be  manifested 
till  after  his  Passion.  Jesus  commands  the  witnesses 
of  Thabor  to  reveal  to  no  one  what  they  had  seen  until 


27/ e  Life  of  our  Lord  ffesus  Clirist.  257 

the   Son   of    Man   should   have   arisen   from   the   dead.  ? 

They  obey,  but  they  were  not  forbidden  from  speaking  \ 

to  one   another  about   it.     They  ask  themselves  what  \ 

could  this   mean  •  "  Until  he  should  have  arisen  from  [ 

(  the  dead."     What   is  so   clear  now  to  us  was  not  so  to 

J  them   then.     Having   no   idea  of  the   second  coming, 

they  believed  that  the  death  of  their  Master  would  be 
the  end  of  all  he  should  do  in  this  world  ;  and  they 
are  astonished  that   Elias,  who  is  to  precede  the  Mes-  ( 

sias,  had  not  yet  reappeared  on  the  earth.  Our  Lord 
tells  them,  indeed,  that  Elias  will  come  to  re-establish 
all  things,  and  would  be,  like  the  Son  of  Man,  perse- 
cuted and  treated  with  disrespect.  He  spoke  of  the 
second  coming.  He  adds:  "  But  I  tell  you  Elias  has 
already  come,  and  they  have  not  known  him,  and  that 
they  made  him  suffer  as  they  willed,  and  that  it  is 
thus  they  will  treat  the  Son  of  Man."  They  under- 
stand that  this  Elias  was  John  the  Baptist,  whose 
violent  death  foretold  more  and  more  intelligibly  the 
Passion  of  the  Messias. 

It  was  in  descending  the  slopes  of  Thabor  Jesus 
announced  so  clearly  his  end.  By  this  discourse  the 
disciples,  equally  dazzled  with  light  and  shade,  receive 
an  instruction  which  they  comprehended  later  on.  Al- 
ready they  have  had  Christ  in  his  entirety,  with  his  igno- 
minies, with  his  glory,  with  the  attributes  of  the  divinity, 
and  the  shortcomings  of  humanity.  Very  soon  they 
will  recognize  the  Christ  of  the  prophets,  the  all- 
powerful  God,  and  at  the  same  time  the  lowest  and  most 
abject  of  mankind,  seated  in  the  highest  heavens,  nailed  ( 


to  the  cross.  Wonderful  contrasts,  incomprehensible, 
yet  contained,  nevertheless,  in  the  name  of  Jesus  alone  : 
Saviour  !  ( 

Saviour!     He  can   only  be  so  by  saving  men  from 


25S  The  Life  of    our  Lord  yes  us  CJuist. 

the   consequences  of  their  sins  ;  only  so   by  satisfying 

for  them  ;  only  so  by  taking  on  him  the  rigor  of  their  1 

chastisements.      He  must   humble   himself,  suffer;    he  \ 

must  be   God,  and   he  must   be  something  else    than  > 

God. 

If  he  had  been  only  God — a  strange  expression — the 
conditions  of  the  humiliations  and  the  sufferings  could 

)  not  have  been  fulfilled  ;  but  that  he  should  be  simply  a 

creature,  simply  a  man,  was  also  impossible. 

What  relations  could  the  sufferings  of  a  simple  crea- 
ture have  with   the   rights  of  infinite   justice  ?     What  ( 

) 

love  and  what  acknowledgment  would  the  human  race 

have   preserved   of   him  ?     Who   would  have  believed 

to-day  that  this  foolish  holocaust  had  been  offered,  had 

been  accepted,  had  truly  satisfied  ? 

And,  finally,  whatever  may  be  the  value  of  the  Just, 
by  what  right  should  such  a  satisfaction  be  offered  ? 
The  human  race,  created  by  God,  is  nothing  before 
God  ;  but,  nevertheless  (in  comparison  with  the  rest  of 
creation),  it  is  not  so  little  a  thing  that  a  simple  creature 
could  redeem  entire  humanity,  from  the  first  man  who 
existed  and  who  sinned  to  the  last  who  shall  live  and  sin. 
One  dares  to  say  that  God  had  no  right  to  come  to  agree- 
ment in  this  suit  between  man  and  himself.  Either 
his  disdain  should  have  contented  itself  with  the  blood 
of  goats  and  the  oblation  of  the  fruits  of  the  earth,  or 
his  justice  should  exact  the  offering  up  of  the  blood 
of  a  God.  In  other  words,  either  there  is  no  redemp- 
tion or  Christ  is  God,  and  this  God  is  Man  at  the 
same  time  as  well  as  God. 

To-day    the    children    of    faith    know  these    divine 
things.      The    apostles  possessed   but    confused    ideal 
forms  of  them,  and  they  remained  buried  in  their  mem 
ories  until   the   Holy  Ghost   came  to  enlighten  them 


:  The  Life  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Chrisi.  259 

In  reserving  the  co-operation  of  this  Spirit  of  light 
Jesus  Christ  gave  another  great  lesson.  He  informs  us 
thatexterior  teaching  profits  only  inasmuch  as  the  in- 
terior light  is  united  to  it.  It  is  not,  therefore,  withou 
reason  and  without  fruit,  says  a  commentator,  that  he 
announced  to  his  disciples  truths  of  whose  connection 
he  left  them  ignorant.  He  engraved  on  their  hearts 
mysterious  characters.  The  Holy  Ghost  gave  them 
the  key  to  unravel  and  explain  them.  They  learned  all 
of   Jesus  ;    they  comprehended  all  through   the  Holy 

)  Ghost  ;  and  it  is  thus  the  Holy  Ghost  taught  them  all 

)  things. 


EJS'JjTI 

^Ë^8 

Hïr^ 

WÊ 

sTjKSXs 

WÊËiP 

lïXais 

^*H 

tEjH 

^=^=Ës 

CHAPTER  III. 

THE  CHILD  AFFLICTED  DELIVERED  FROM  THE 
DEVIL — THE  DRACHMA — PRECEPT  OF  FORGIVE- 
NESS. 


AS  Jesus  descended  from  the  mountain  a  vast 
throng  of  people  preceded  him.  The  Evange- 
list St.  Mark  says  that  at  his  aspect  "all  were  struck 
with  astonishment  and  fear."  Something,  without 
doubt,  remained  with  him  of  that  splendor  which  had 
prostrated  the  three  apostles  to  the  earth. 

A  man  casts  himself  at  his  feet,  beseeching  him  to 
deliver  his  son,  possessed  of  a  devil,  whom  the  disciples 
had  not  been  able  to  drive  out.  At  the  command  of 
Jesus  they  conduct  the  sick  lad  to  him  ;  he  was  very 
young.  The  demon  had  tormented  him  from  his  in- 
fancy, and  often  had  cast  him  into  water  and  fire,  that 
he  might  perish.  He  writhes,  he  foams.  "  If  you  can 
do  anything,"  says  the  father,  addressing  himself  to 
our  Lord,  "  have  pity  on  us  and  aid  us." 

To    this  prayer  of  an  imperfect  faith  Jesus  replies: 

"  If  you  can  believe,  all  things  are  possible  to  him  who 

believes."    The  father,  with  tears  in  his  eyes,  exclaims: 

"  I    believe  ;  O  Lord  !  aid  my  unbelief."     Then  Jesus 

commanded   the  devil  to  depart  out  of  the  youth,  and 

to  enter  in  no  more.      The   unclean   spirit   now  uttered 

360 


The  Life  of  our  Lord  yesus  Christ.  261 

hellish  yells;  then  the  boy,  violently  shaken,  lay  mo- 
tionless on  the  ground,  so  that  many  of  the  multitude 
thought  him  dead.  But  Jesus,  taking  him  by  the 
hand,  aided  him  to  rise,  and  from  that  moment  he  was 
cured. 

By  these  details,  which  the  apostles  enter  into,  we 
perceive  that  on  this  occasion,  as  well  as  on  every  other, 
he  applies  himself  to  inspire  faith.  The  reply  he 
makes  to  the  afflicted  father  corresponds  to  his  request, 
stamped  with  doubt.  Instead  of  forthwith  curing  him, 
as  he  did  the  leper,  who  prayed  with  a  heart  full  of  con- 
fidence, he  obliges  him  to  describe  this  terrible  malady 
which  the  disciples  were  not  able  to  conquer,  and  he 
permits  the  sick  person  to  be  tormented  in  his  pre- 
sence. Besides,  the  evil  is  deep.  He  paints  the  soul 
totally  buried  in  sin.  Nothing  less  than  the  power  of 
God  can  deliver  it.  But  what  matter,  since  God  is 
there,  since  he  always  descends  from  the  mountain 
toward  those  who  know  how  to  importune  him  ? 

From  the  age  of  this  youth,  tormented  from  his  in- 
fancy, St.  Augustine  draws  a  proof  of  original  sin 
against  Julian  the  Pelagian,  who  asserted  that  all 
men  are  born  without  any  stain  of  sin  and  quite  inno- 
cent, such  as  Adam  was  at  the  creation.  How  could 
this  boy,  possessed  of  a  devil,  be  tormented  from  his 
infancy,  if  he  were  not  conceived  and  born  in  original 
sin  ?  What  sin  could  he  have  committed  peculiar  to 
his  stage  of  life  ?  How  could  childhood  be  guilty  of 
actual  «in  ?  The  Venerable  Bede  also  remarks  that 
Jesus  cures  by  touching  with  the  hand  him  whom  the 
enemy  had  rendered  like  unto  death  ;  and  thus  by 
this  veritable  touch  is  refuted  in  advance  the  folly  of 
Manes,  who  denies  that  the  Saviour  could  be  clothed 
with  the  same  flesh  as  ourselves.      But   it  is  not  in  this 


place  alone,  it  is  everywhere,  that  the  Gospel  refutes 
and  will  refute  all  heresies. 

Nevertheless,  the  apostles  demand  of  the  Lord  why 
this  demon  had  resisted  their  power.  Jesus  answers  : 
"  It  is  because  of  your  little  faith."  They  say  to  him  : 
"  O  Lord  !  increase  our  faith."  If  your  faith,  continues 
Jesus,  equalled  the  grain  of  mustard-seed,  you  could 
say  to  this  tree,  Uproot  yourself  and  transplant  your- 
self in  the  sea,  and  it  would  obey  you.  Yes,  indeed, 
if  your  faith  only  equalled  a  grain  of  mustard-seed,  you 
could  say  to  this  mountain,  Move  from  here  to  there, 
and  it  would  remove  ;  nothing  would  be  impossible  to 
you.  To  impart  to  them  a  more  special  instruction  on 
what  had  transpired,  he  adds  that  this  sort  of  demon 
which  had  baffled  them  could  not  be  chased  away  but 
by  fasting  and  prayer.  St.  John  Chrysostom  eloquent- 
ly comments  on  this  text.  There  is  nothing,  he  says, 
more  powerful  than  the  man  who  prays  as  he  ought. 
He  who  prays  as  he  ought,  and  who  fasts,  has  no  need 
of  many  things.  He  has  two  wings  swifter  than  the 
wind,  and  he  is  superior  to  terrestrial  nature. 

"I  believe;  O  Lord!  assist  my  unbelief;  O  Lord  ! 
increase  our  faith  " — profound  prayers,  full  of  pious 
depth  and  thought  ;  triumphant  words,  by  which  the 
world  was  conquered.  Whoever  will  sound  the  depth 
of  this  first  prayer  will  understand  the  true  wound 
and  real  want  of  the  soul.  Whosoever  will  have 
been  heard  pronouncing  the  second  shall  reign  for 
ever.  • 

The  faith  of  the  apostles  had  increased  as  they  had 
implored  it,  save  especially  in  what  regarded  the 
dolorous  part  of  the  mystery  of  Jesus.  They  did  not 
doubt  his  power — sufficient  proofs  of  it  were  given  to 
them   every   day  ;  but   these   multiplied   miracles  ren- 


The  Gospels  relate  but  one  of  the  miracles  which 
Jesus  performed  at  Capharnaum  during  his  last  sojourn 
there.  In  this  we  equally  behold  the  power  of  the 
Son  of  God  and  the  humility  of  the  Son  of  Mary. 

Those  who  had  charge  of  the  didrachma  which  was 
raised  for  the  maintenance  of  the  Temple  sought  in- 
formation of  Peter  whether  his  Master  paid  taxes  or 
not.  Peter  forthwith  flew  to  his  Master  to  acquaint 
him  of  the  circumstance,  and  to  notify  him  of  their 
sinister  motives  ;  but  our  Lord  foresaw  their  malignant 
designs.     He  asks   him,  From  whom  do  the  kings  of 


n 


The  Life  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ.  263 

dered  it  more  difficult  for  them  to  believe  or  compre- 
hend that  he  could  or  ought  to  suffer. 

Jesus    conducts    them    to    Capharnaum,    which    he 
wished  to  visit  for  the  last  time.     This  journey  was  a  / 

triumph.  The  people  celebrate  the  praises  of  the  Man 
sent  by  God  who  cures  all  maladies  and  all  diseases, 
and  who  had  all  power  over  devils.  Our  Lord  says  to 
the  disciples  :  "  I  implore  you,  engrave  well  on  your 
hearts  what  I  announce  to  you  :  the  Son  of  Man  must 
be  delivered  up.  They  will  put  him  to  death,  and, 
after  having  put  him  to  death,  he  will  rise  up  the  third 
day."  j 

The  time  of  opprobrium  approaches.  He  must  pre- 
pare and  fortify  those  hearts  naturally  infatuated  by 
so  many  wonders.  He  must  also,  by  those  repeated 
discourses,  teach  them  that  the  Passion  and  death  of 
the  Son  of  God  should  be  entirely  voluntary,  since  he 
could  foresee  them,  could  also  easily  avoid  them.  But 
as  yet  they  did  not  comprehend,  and  this  language 
saddens  them.  Their  ambition  was  wounded  by  it, 
not  less  than  the  love  they  bore  their  Master.  Divid- 
ed between  love  and  hope,  they  were  afraid  to  interro- 
1  gate  him  on  this  point. 


The  Lije  of  our  Lord  yesus  Christ 


the  earth  exact  tribute  :  is  it  from  their  children  or 
strangers?  Peter  answers  :  "  From  strangers."  Jesus 
replies  :  "  Then  the  children  are  exempt  from  it. 
However,"  he  adds,  not  to  scandalize  them,  "  go, 
cast  the  hook  and  catch  the  first  fish  that  comes  up  ; 
in  its  mouth  you  will  find  a  piece  of  money  to  the 
value  of  four  drachmas.  Give  it  to  them  for  yourself 
and  for  me." 

Jesus,  says  Origen,  does  not  carry  the  image  of 
Caesar.  The  prince  of  this  world  had  no  power  or  con- 
trol over  him  ;  he  had  nothing  to  do  with  him.  This 
is  the  reason  why  he  draws  from  the  bosom  of  the  sea 
what  he  did  not  possess — the  coin  wherewith  to  pay 
the  tribute.  It  was  not  his  intention  to  refuse  this 
tribute,  which  he  discharges  in  the  ordinary  manner. 
It  was  only  after  having  clearly  pointed  out  that  he 
was  not  subject  to  the  law  that  he  submitted.  He  pays, 
so  that  the  tax-gatherers  might  not  be  scandalized,  and 
also  he  does  not  wish  to  scandalize  his  disciples. 

These  remarks  and  recent  attestations  of  the  Di- 
vinity cause  the  disciples  to  forget  the  apprehensions 
they  had  entertained.  A  contest  arose  to  know  who  was 
thegreatest  among  them.  Jesus,  knowing  their  thoughts, 
asks  them,  some  moments  after,  what  they  were  dis- 
puting about  ;  but  they  dared  not  answer  him.  They 
were  instructed  enough  to  foresee  that  he  would  con- 
demn their  ambition.  Then  he  says  to  them  :  "  If  any 
one  wishes  to  be  the  first,  let  him  be  the  last  of  all  and 
the  servant  of  all."  And  taking  a  child,  he  places 
it  in  the  midst  of  the  apostles  ;  he  extols  the  candor 
and  simplicity  of  childhood.  "  Whosoever,  therefore," 
he  adds,  "  shall  become  humble  as  this  little  child,  that 
one  shall  become  the  greatest  in  the  kingdom  of 
heaven." 


The  Life  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ, 


26: 


After  this  instruction  on  humility  he  speaks  to  them 
of  charity.  It  was  there  and  then  that  the  sweet,  tender 
parable  was  proposed  of  the  faithful  shepherd  leaving 
his  entire  flock  on  the  mountains,  and  going  to  seek  the 
lost  sheep.  He  gives  an  admirable  precept  never  to 
refuse  pardon. 

In  this  intimacy  with  his  apostles  and  disciples,  as  a 
good  father,  he  lets  himself  be  interrupted  and  interro- 
gated. Peter  says  to  him  :  "  How  many  times  ought 
I  to  pardon  my  brother,  who  has  offended  me  seven 
times  ?"  Jesus  answers:  "  I  do  not  tell  you  to  pardon 
seven  times,  but  seventy  times  seven  " — that  is,  always. 
This  sovereign  expression  had  not  been  addressed  to 
P»ter  without  containing  a  deep  meaning  and  a  certain 
object  in  view.  The  chief  or  head  of  the  Church 
ought  and  must  be  the  inexhaustible  dispenser  of 
pardons. 


CHAPTER   IV. 

TEACHING    IN    THE   TEMPLE — THE   WOMAN  TAKEN    IN 
ADULTERY. 


AFTER  that  Jesus  hastens  with  pious  eagerness  to 
the  Feast  of  Tabernacles — one  of  the  three  which 
the  Jews  were  bound  to  celebrate  at  Jerusalem.  He 
goes  there  in  a  sort  of  secret  manner,  and  after  hav- 
ing expressed  some  doubt  as  to  his  intention  ;  for  the 
hour  had  not  yet  arrived  to  give  rein  to  the  designs  of 
those  who  wished  to  take  his  life. 

On  the  road  ten  lepers,  who  were  kept  separated 
from  the  people  to  obey  the  law,  ran  forward  and  cried 
out  to  him,  "  Jesus,  our  master,  take  pity  on  us." 
"  Go,"  said  he  to  them,  "  show  yourselves  to  the 
priests."  For  the  leper  made  clean  was  bound  to 
receive  the  purification  of  the  priest  and  to  make  an 
offering.  They  departed  forthwith,  and  on  going  they 
found  themselves  cleansed  of  their  loathsome  disease. 
One  of  them  returns  and  prostrates  himself  to  the 
earth  before  his  benefactor,  and  gives  thanks.  He  was 
a  Samaritan;  the  others  were  Jews.  They  were  un- 
grateful, perhaps  at  the  instigation  of  the  scribes,  who 
were  incessantly  prowling  around  Jesus.  Our  Lord 
says  :  "  Were  there  not  ten  cleansed  ?  And  where  are 
the  nine  others?  There  is  none  but  this  stranger  to 
return  and  give  thanks  to  God."     Then  he  says  to  the 


!  i 

TJie  Life  of  our  Lord  ycsus  Chris/.  267 

leper  :"  Arise,  go  thy  way:  for  thy  faith  hath  saved 
thee."  This  superior  and  sublime  faith  not  only  heals 
the  body,  but  obtains  the  salvation  of  the  soul. 

Arrived  at  Jerusalem,  Jesus  begins  to  preach.  A 
great  division  is  manifested  among  the  people  at  his 
subject.  As  the  venerable  old  Simeon  had  predicted, 
he  was  a  sign  or  mark  of  contradiction.  Neverthe- 
less,  the  wisdom  of  his  words  subjugated  the  entire 
world.  Friends  and  enemies  admire  that  eloquent 
science  of  a  Man  who  had  never  studied.  He  says  to 
them  :  "  My  doctrine  is  not  mine,  but  his  that  sent  me. 
If  any  man  will  do  the  will  of  him,  he  shall  know  of 
the  doctrine  whether  it  be  of  God  or  whether  I  speak 
of  myself.  He  that  speaketh  of  himself,  seeketh  his 
own  glory  ;  but  he  that  seeketh  the  glory  of  Him  that 
sent  him,  he  is  true,  and  there  is  no  injustice  in  him." 

\  Knowing  what   accusations    the    Pharisees  and   the 

scribes  brought  against  him  on  the  subject  of  the  Sab- 

\  bath,  since   the  healing  of  the   paralytic  he  gives  them 

\  new  proofs  that  the  law  had  not  been  violated   by  that 

act  of  mercy,  but  that  they  violated  it  themselves  by 
not  judging  according  to  equity.  He  demands  of  them 
why  they  sought   to   put   him    to   death.      Irritated    at 

)  seeing  their  perfidy  unveiled,  some    among   them   cry 

out  :  "  Who  seeks  to  put  you  to  death?  You  are  pos- 
sessed of  a  demon  !  "  Others  are  inclined  to  believe 
that  he  was  the  Christ.  But  those  ignorant  blasphemers 
add:  "However,  we  know  whence  this  man  came; 
and  when  the  Christ  will  come,  nobody  shall  know 
whence  he  comes."  Their  error  probably  proceeds  from 
a  too  literal  interpretation  of  that  text  of  Isaias  : 
"'■  Who  will  recount  his  generation  ?  "  What  the  pro- 
phet  understood  was  the  mystery  of  the  Eternal  Gene- 
ration. 


268 


The  Life  of  our  Lord  yesus  Christ. 


Jesus  says  in  a  loud  voice  :  "  You  both  know  me, 
and  you  know  whence  I  am  :  and  I  am  not  come  of 
myself;  but  he  that  sent  me  is  true,  whom  you  know 
not.  I  know  him,  because  I  am  from  him,  and  he  hath 
sent  me." 

Here  those  Jews,  his  enemies,  very  well  understood 
that  Jesus  said  he  was  the  Son  of  God,  and  that  he 
was  equal  to  God.  Although  some  of  his  adherents, 
beginning  to  fear,  did  not  boldly  manifest  their  faith, 
they  let  it  be  seen  they  were  of  the  number  of  Christ's 
followers.  Among  the  multitude  many  said  :  "  When 
the  Christ  will  come,  will  he  perform  more  miracles?" 
The  scribes  and  the  Pharisees,  the  heads  of  the  priest- 
hood, judged  that  this  sentiment  should  not  be.  allowed 
to  grow  among  the  people  ;  and  to  arrest  its  influence 
they  sent  out  their  subalterns  to  seize  Jesus.  But  he 
himself,  without  being  in  the  least  degree  disturbed  by 
those  premature  and  powerless  measures,  says  to  those 
who  surround  him,  perhaps  to  those  who  had  been 
charged  to  arrest  him  :  "  I  am  yet  with  you  for  a  little 
while,  and  I  go  to  him  who  has  sent  me.  You  will 
seek  me,  and  you  will  not  find  me  ;  and  where  I  am 
you  canrtot  come." 

"  Where  I  am  " — ■"  ubi  ego  sum  " — words  of  God. 
Jesus  Christ,  present  and  speaking  on  the  earth,  is  also 
in  heaven,  where  he  ceases  not  to  dwell. 

The  Feast  of  the  Tabernacles  lasted  a  week.  The 
last  day  they  were  accustomed  to  draw  water  from  the 
fountain  of  Siloe,  and  they  sprinkled  that  water  on  the 
altar,  imploring  of  God  an  abundance  of  the  fruits  of 
the  earth.  That  day  Jesus,  according  to  his  wont, 
seizing  the  occasion  of  the  circumstance,  says  in  a  loud 
voice  :  "  If  any  one  thirsts,  let  him  come  to  me,  and 
let  him  drink.     From  the  heart  of  him  who  believes  in 


The  Life  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ.  269 

mc  floods  of  living  water  will  flow."     lie  speaks  of  the 
Holy  Ghost,  which  will  be  given  to  those  who   believe 
I  ia  him. 

Among  the  people  there  were  spies  charged   to  seize  ^ 

him  ;  as  on  the  days  preceding,  they  did  not  dare 
execute  their  commission.  To  the  reproaches  of  the 
Pharisees  and  the  princes  of  the  priests  they  replied  : 
"No  man  has  ever  spoken  like  that  man."  These 
fanatics  demanded  of  them  if  they  had  allowed  them- 
selves to  be  thus  duped  and  seduced  like  the  popu- 
lace, and  if  they  had  not  seen  that  no  person  among 
the  rulers  and  the  distinguished  citizens  esteemed 
this  Galilean. 

However,  Nicodemus,  the  senator,  had  the  boldness 
and  courage  to  make  an  objection.  He  invoked  the 
legality  of  the  law,  finding  that  no  one  could  judge 
even  a  Galilean  without  knowing  what  he  had  done. 
Now,  what  crime  could  be  imputed  to  this  man  ?  The 
Pharisees  were  more  and  more  transported  with  rage. 
There  is  room  to  believe  that  their  design  was  to  put 
Jesus  to  death  without  any  formality  of.  law,  only  by 
virtue  of  the  excommunication  pronounced  against 
him.  "Arc  you  also  a  Galilean?"  they  say  to  Nico- 
demus. "  Search  the  Scriptures,  and  learn  that  out  of 
Galilee  there  comes  no  prophet."  Such  were  their  rea- 
sons ;  the  difficulty  of  finding  out  better  ones  has  made 
such  as  these  be  still  advanced.  He  listened  only  to  the 
ignorant  and  the  populace.  He  is  a  Galilean.  That 
has  been  said  for  a  long  time,  and  it  is  still  repeated. 
The  miserable  Emperor  Julian  thought  to  destroy 
Christianity  by  this  impious  expression  ;  the  descen- 
dants of  those  who  invented  it,  everywhere  submerged 
in  the  ignominy  of  the  Jewish  name,  yet  call  Jesus  the 
Galilean. 


270  The  Life  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ.  \ 

Whilst  they  were   plotting  his   ruin  Jesus   retires  to 
the  Mountain  of  Olives.     He  was  accustomed   to  pass 
the    nights    there    when   he    sojourned    at    Jerusalem. 
)  Judas  knew  it.     The  Mountain  of  Olives  is  the  moun- 

tain of  perfumes — the  mountain  of  unction  ;  there 
should  dwell  the  Christ,  the  anointed  with  the  holy 
oil,  who  has  anointed  us  with  his  strength  to  com- 
bat the  mortal  enemy;  anointed  us  with  his  grace  to 
weep  for  our  faults,  with  his  love  to  obtain  pardon  for 
them.  The  Mountain  of  Olives  represents  to  us  the 
sublime  goodness  of  Jesus.  The  fruit  of  the  olive, 
says  Alcuin,  is  appropriate  to  this  mystery.  Placed  un- 
I  der  the  press,  it  yields  oil — a  sign  of  God's  mercy  ;  for 

s  the  oil  swims  on  the  top  of  all  other  liquids,  as  it  is 

written,  "  The  mercies  of  the  Lord  are  above  all  his 
works."  In  the  wandering  life  of  Jesus  there  are  but 
two  places  that  one  can  call  his  abodes  :  the  Mountain 
of  Olives,  the  mountain  of  mercies;  and  the  house  of 
Simon  Peter,  whom  he  has  commanded  to  pardon 
seventy-seven  times  a  day. 

Having,  therefore,  passed  the  night  on  the  mountain, 
the  next  day,  at  the  dawn  of  the  morning,  he  returns 
to  the  Temple.  The  throng  eagerly  flock  to  hear  him. 
Urged  on  by  an  instinct  of  salvation,  the  people  rush 
around  Him  who  had  said  through  the  prophet  :  "  I 
will  draw  them  by  the  bonds  of  love."  He  had  sat 
down,  and  was  instructing  them,  when  the  Pharisees 
appeared,  dragging  along  a  woman,  whom  they  placed 
in  the  midst  of  the  assembly.  "  Doctor,"  they  say  to 
him,  "  this  woman  is  an  adulteress.  Moses  command- 
ed us  to  stone  such  guilty  ones;  what  do  you  think 
about  it?" 

According  to  what  Jesus  would  pronounce,  they 
were   prepared  either  to  accuse  him   of  disrespect   for 


The  Life  of  our  Lord  jfesus  Christ  271 

the  law  of  Moses  or  severity  toward  sinners.  Jesus, 
observing    silence,  stooped    down    and  wrote    on    the  ) 

earth  with  his  finger.  According  to  one  tradition,  he 
wrote  the  secret  sins  of  the  accusers  of  the  adulteress. 
According  to  others,  he  contented  himself  with  tracing 
out  some  short  sentence  of  the  Scriptures  applicable  to 
their  wickedness;  as,  for  example,  this  text  of  Jercmias: 
"  O  earth,  earth  !  write  that  these  men  are  damned." 
However,  the  Pharisees  continued  to  interrogate  him, 
and  wished  to  force  him  to  answer.  When  he  stood 
erect,  he  said  to  them  :  "  Whosoever  among  you  is 
without  sin,  let  him  take  up  the  first  stone  and  throw 
it  at  her  "  ;  and  without  regarding  them,  probably  to 
give  them  time  to  make  a  retreat,  he  stooped  down 
again  and  began  writing.      Whether  the  words  he  had 


( 

said  had  been  sufficient    to  arouse   their  wicked   con- 
sciences, or  whether    it  had  the  power    of   unmasking 


more    clearly    their   hypocrisy,  all    her   accusers    went 
away  one   after   the    other;    the    oldest   left   the   first. 


Within  the  circle  which  was  formed,  says  St.  Augus- 
tine, only  two  personages  remained — misery  and  mercy. 
Jesus  said  to  the  adulteress:  "Where  are  those  who 
accused  you  ?  Has  no  person  condemned  you?"  "  No 
person,  Lord,"  said  she.  "  Nor  shall  I  condemn  you," 
replies  the  Saviour;  "  go,  and  henceforth  sin  no  more."  / 

"  Come  forth,"  David  cried,  "  establish  thy  reign  in 
truth,  in  sweetness,  and  in  justice  !  "  By  one  word  the 
Son  of  David  caused  mercy  to  triumph,  without 
wounding  the  law;  unmasked  hypocrisy;  confounded 
malice  ;  delivered  the  adulteress  from  their  evil  machi- 
nations; and,  we  may  believe,  converted  her  heart. 
Nevertheless,  he  observes  all  justice  and  all  truth. 
"Sin  no  more."  By  this,  at  the  same  time,  he  shows 
mercy  and  he  condemns.      He   is  the  protector  of  the 


) 

! 

) 

272  The  Life  of  our  Lord  yesus  Christ. 

sinner,  but  not  of  the  sin.  If  he  had  wished  to  absolve 
the  crime,  he  could  have  said  to  the  guilty:  "  Go,  love 
as  you  like,  and  be  sure  I  will  deliver  you  from  hell." 
But  he  says  to  her:  "  Sin  no  more."  Let  those  pay 
attention  to  this  who  would  wish  to  see  only  clemency, 
and  let  them  fear  ;  for  the  Lord  is  clement  and  just. 
This  is  St.  Augustine's  commentary. 

After  this  scene  Jesus  resumes  the  instruction  it  had 
interrupted.  His  discourse  turned  on  his  mission  and 
his  divinity.  By  its  profoundness,  often  difficult  to  be 
understood,  it  seemed  rather  destined  for  those  who 
would  meditate  on  it  in  future   ages  than  for  those  be-  \ 

fore  whom  it  was   pronounced.       It   is  supposed    the  \ 

Evangelist  preserved  but  the  substance  of  it,  and  that 
our  Lord  gave  developments  to  it  that   suited  the  in- 
telligence of  the   auditors.     It  is  said  that  many  be- 
lieved in  him,  despite  the  denials  and   the  injurious  in-  ( 
terruptions  of  the  Pharisees.  \ 

These  latter  did  not  cease  to  demand  of  him  who  he 
was.  He  said  to  them  :  "  When  you  shall  have  raised 
up  the  Son  of  Man,  you  will  then  know  who  I  am,  and 
that  of  myself  I  do  nothing,  but  that  I  do  the  things 
the  Father  has  taught  me.  He  who  sent  me  is  with 
me,  and  he  has  not  left  me  alone,  because  I  always 
do  what  pleases  him."  This  is  what  he  had  said  to 
Nicodemus  from  the  beginning,  what  he  had  announced 
to  the  apostles  and  the  Jews  themselves,  declaring  to 
them  that  they  should  have  no  other  miracle  but  that 
of  Jonas.  They  understood  it  after  they  had  raised 
him  on  the  cross.  When  he  adds.  "  He  who  sent  me 
is  with  me,"  he  proclaims  the  unity  of  nature,  which 
renders  the  Father  inseparable  from  the  Son.  He 
informs  us,  besides  that  great  and  consoling  truth  of 
Christianity,  that  God  attaches  himself  inseparably  to 


r~ 


The  Life  of  out  Lord  Jesus  Christ.  273 

( 

those  who  always  do  what  is  pleasing  to  him,  and  never 
leaves  them  alone. 

As  many  in   the  throng  believed,  he  said  to  them  to 


X  strengthen    them:    "If  you    remain    attached    to    my 

(  words,  you  will  be  truly  my  disciples;   you  will  know 

the  truth,  and  the  truth  will  make  you  free."  At  this 
the  Pharisees  affect  to  misunderstand  him,  and  to  stand 
on  their  dignity  of  being  the  children  of  Abraham, .and 
of  never  having  been  slaves  of  anybody.  Jesus  tells 
)  them  that  he  who  sins  becomes  the  slave  of  sin  ;   that, 

children   of  Abraham   according  to  the   flesh,   but  by 


their  works  enemies  of  the  truth  and  of  justice,  they 


"  In  truth,"    he  says  to  them,  but  at  the  same   time  he 
says  it  to  the  human  race  for  all  time — "  verily,  if  any 


f 
I 

render  themselves  children  of  another  father.  "  We 
have  but  one  father,"  they  say,  "who  is  God."  "  If 
God  be  your  father,  you  would  love  me,"  replies  Jesus; 
"  for  it  is  from  God  that  I  proceed  and  that  I  am  come. 
You    are    the    children  of   the    devil,  and    what    your 

\  father  desires,  that  you  wish  to  do.      From  the  com- 

mencement he  was  a  murderer  ;  he   has  not  remained 

\  in  the  truth,  and  this  is  why  the  truth  is  not  in  him  ; 

and   when   he   lies,   it   is   from   the   depth   of  his  own 

\  wickedness,  because  he  is  a  liar  and  the  father  of  lies. 

For  my  part,  because  I  tell  you  the  truth  you  do  not 
believe  me.  Who  among  you  will  convict  me  of 
sin  ?  "  At  this  word  they  keep  silence.  The  Saviour 
continues:  "  Why,  then,  when  I  speak  the  truth,  do 
you    not  believe    me  ?  "     And    answering    himself,   he  \ 

says  :  "lie  who  is  of  God  hears  the  words  of  God  ;  and 
you  do  not  hear   them,  because  you  are  not  of  God.' 


The\-  replied  to  him  in  recriminations,  saying  he  was  a 
demoniac  and  a  Samaritan. 

Their  insults  were   powerless  to  weary  his   patience. 


>X 


from   them  ;    neither    did   he   curse  them    nor  forsake 


274  The  Life  of  our  Lord  jfesits  Christ. 

one  keep  my  word,  he  shall  not  see  death  for  ever." 
They  cried  out  again:  "Now  we  know  for  certain 
that  thou  hast  a  demon  !  How  !  Abraham  is  dead, 
and  the  prophets  are  dead,  and  you  say,  '  If  any  one 
keep  my  word,  he  shall  not  taste  death.'  Are  you 
greater  than  our  father  Abraham  and  the  prophets  who 
are  dead  ?  For  whom  do  you  proclaim  yourself?  " 
Jesus  answers:  "If  I  glorify  myself,  my  glory  is  no- 
thing. He  who  glorifies  me  is  my  Father,  whom  you 
declare  to  be  your  God.  And  you  have  not  known 
him,  but  I  know  him  ;  and  if  I  said  I  did  not  know 
him,  I  would  be  like  you — a  liar.  But  I  know  him, 
and  I  obey  his  word." 

Reverting  to  Abraham,  whom  they  cited  so  much, 
he  added  these  words,  full  of  majesty  and  light  :  "  Ab- 
raham, your  father,  desired  ardently  to  see  my  day. 
He  saw  it,  and  he  has  been  filled  with  joy."  The  Jews 
cry  out  :    "You    are  not  yet  fifty  years  old,  and  you  \ 

have  seen  Abraham."  "  Truly,  truly,"  Jesus  answers  : 
"  I  say  to  you,  before  Abraham  was  known  I  AM."  To 
define  himself  he  was  obliged  to  create  an  expression 
which  was  not  that   of  men.      This  word  expresses  his  \ 

divinity.     Before  indicates  the  past  ;  I  am,  the  present.  \ 

In  the  Divinity  there  is  neither  past  nor  future,  but  al- 
ways being.  "  Before  Abraham  was  I  am  " — an  ex- 
pression similar  to  that  which  the  Jews  had  already 
understood  :     "  I  am  who  am."  \ 

By  this  flash  of  lightning  they  get  a  glimpse  of  his 
equality  with  God,  and  they  take  up   stones  to    stone 
him  who   speaks    in    such    a    manner;    but  Jesus    be- 
comes   invisible    to    them,  and    he    departs    from    the 
J  Temple.  ( 

)  In   concealing  himself  from  their  fur}-  he  did  not  fly  ( 

) 


J 


TJie  Life  of  our  Lord  yesus  Christ.  275 

them.  That  same  day  a  great  miracle  at  once  demon- 
strates to  them  Ins  power,  his  mercy,  and  also  his  per- 
severance in  the  doctrine  for  which  they  upbraided  him 
touching  the  observance  of  the  Sabbath. 


I 


CHAPTER  V. 


THE   MAN   BORN   BLIND. 


JESUS  sees  a  man  born  blind,  and  his  disciples  say 
to  him  :  "  Master,  is  it  this  man  who  has  sinned, 
or  his  parents,  that  he  was  born  blind  ?  "  Jesus 
answers  :  "  Neither  himself  nor  his  parents  have 
sinned,  but  that  the  works  of  God  may  be  manifested 
in  him.  It  is  necessary  that  whilst  there  is  light  I 
should  do  the  works  of  Him  who  has  sent  me.  The 
night  cometh,  when  no  person  can  work.  Whilst  I 
am  in  the  world  I  am  the  light  of  the  world." 

Having  said  these  words,  he  moistens  a  little  earth 
with  his  spittle,  and  with  this  clay  he  anoints  the 
eyes  of  the  blind  man,  and  says  to  him  :  "  Go,  wash 
yourself  in  the  pool  of  Siloe  (which  signifies  One  Sent)." 
The  man  born  blind  obeys,  and  returns  with  perfect 
sight. 

But  his   neighbors,  and  those  who  before  had  seen 

him  begging,  said  :  "  Is  not  this  he  who  sat  and  begged, 

asking  alms?"     Some   said:    "This  is   he";    others, 

"  No,  but  he  resembles  him."  And  the  blind  man,  now 

having  got    his  sight,  said  :  "  I   am  he."     "  But  how 

were  your  eyes  opened  ?  "     He   replies  :  "  That   man 

whom  they  call  Jesus  made  a  little   clay,  rubbed  my 

eyes,  and   said  :    '  Go  to  the  pool  of  Siloe.  and  wash,' 

376 


■ 
The  Life  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ.  277 

) 

) 


blind — "  what  do  you  say  of  him  who  has  opened  your 
eyes?"     He  replies:  "He  is  a  prophet." 

But  those  Jews  did  not  wish  to  believe  that  he  had 
been  blind,  nor  that  he  had  received  his  sight,  until 
they  had  made  his  father  and  mother  come.  They  in- 
terrogate them.  They  ask:  "Is  this  your  son,  who 
you  say  was  born  blind  ?  How,  then,  does  he  now  see  ?" 
The  father  and  the  mother  answered  :  "  We  know  he  is 
our  son,  and  that  lie  was  born  blind.  How  he  now 
sees  we  know  not  ;  nor  do  we  know  who  has  opened 
his  eyes.  Ask  himself;  he  is  of  age.  Let  him  speak 
for  himself  of  what  concerns  him." 

Those  poor  people  were  afraid  of  the  Jews;  for  they 
had  already  agreed  among  them  that  they  would  cast 
out  from  the  synagogue  whoever  should  acknowledge 
Jesus  for  the  Messias.  This  is  why  they  said,  "  He  is 
of  age  ;  interrogate  him." 

Having  recalled  the  man  who  had  been  blind,  the 
Jews  say  to  him,  speaking  of  Jesus:  "Give  glory  to 
God      We  know  that  this  man  is  a  sinner."     "  If  he  be 


and  I  went  and  washed,  and  I  see."  They  said  to  him  : 
"Where  is  that  man?"  He  answered:  "I  know 
not."     And  they  conducted  him  to  the  Pharisees. 

It  was  on  a  Sabbath  day  that  Jesus  thus  moistened  a 
little  earth  and  opened  the  eyes  of  the  man  born  blind. 
In  their  turn  the  Pharisees  asked  the  man  born  blind 
how  he  recovered  his  sight.  He  said  to  them  :  "He 
put  a  morsel  of  clay  on  my  eyes,  and  I  washed,  and  I 
saw." 

Some  among  the  Pharisees,  speaking  of  Jesus,  said  : 
"  That  man  who  does  not  keep  the  Sabbath  is  not  of 
God  "  ;  others,  "  How  can  a  man  who  is  a  sinner  per- 
form such  miracles?"  And  they  were  divided  among 
themselves.     "And  you,"  said  they  to  the  man  born 


278  The  Life  of  our  Lord  yes  us   Christ. 

a  sinner,"  he  says,  "'  I  know  it  not.     I  only  know  I  was  ( 

blind,  and  that  now  I  see  "  ( 

They  reply:  "What  has  he  done?  How  has  he 
opened  your  eyes?  "  He  repeats:  "  I  have  told  you 
already,  and  you  have  heard  it.  How  comes  it  you 
wish  to  hear  it  again  ?  Do  you  also  wish  to  become 
his  disciples?  "  Then  they  said  to  him,  cursing  him  : 
"  Be,  then,  yourself  his  disciple.  As  regards  us,  we  are 
the  disciples  of  Moses.  We  know  God  spoke  to 
Moses  ;  but  as  to  this  man,  we  know  not  whence 
he  came."  "  Behold,  here  is  a  wonderful  affair,"  re- 
torts the  man  born  blind,  "  that  you  have  not  known  i 
whence  he  came,  and  nevertheless  he  has  restored  to 
me  my  perfect  sight  !  We  know  that  God  does  not 
hear  sinners;  but  if  any  one  honors  God  and  does  his 
)  will,  God  favorably  hears  that  person.  Since  the  be- 
ginning of  the  world  it  is  unheard  of  that  anybody 
could  open  the  eyes  of,  and  give  sight  to,  a  man  born 
blind.  If  this  man  did  not  come  from  God,  he  could 
not  do  this." 

They  said  to  him  :  "  You  were  wholly  born  in  sin, 
and  do  you  teach  us  !  "     "  And  they  cast  him  out." 

Jesus  meets  him  and  says  to  him  :  "  Do  you  believe 
in  the  Son  of  God?"  "  Lord,  who  is  he,  so  that  I 
may  believe  in  him  ?  "    Jesus  replies  :    "  You  have  seen  / 

him,"  and  it  is  he  who  speaks  to  you.  The  man 
born  blind  says  :  "  Lord,  I  believe."  And  prostrating 
himself  before  him,  he  adores  him.  i 

In  reading  this  recital  of  incomparable  candor  Ave 
see  that  the  Holy  Ghost  has  answered  by  anticipation 
those  who  demand  that  the  miracles  of  our  Lord 
should  be  proved  by  cross-examination.  We  have 
here  an  enquiry  in  all  the  forms:  denunciation  of  the 
fact — witnesses  called — information — judgment.    There 


H 


The  Life   of  our  Lord  yesus  Christ.  279 

is  nothing  wanting  for  their  proof;  all  bears  the  stamp 
of  truth. 

Nevertheless,  the  splendor  and  evidences  of  the  Gos- 
pel recital  contain  more  beauties  and  truths  than  they 
reveal  at  first  sight.  When  we  regard  them  with  an 
eye  of  intelligence,  the  circumstances  of  the  miracle, 
already  so  vivid,  and  speaking  to  the  eye  of  flesh,  be- 
come so  many  images  of  the  greatness  of  God.  We 
cannot  follow  the  fathers  in  the  long  and  beautiful  ex- 
position they  have  given  of  it;  but  a  few  traits  will 
suffice. 

Alone,  poor,  desolate,  covered  with  tattered  clothes, 
without  hope  and  without  friends,  seated  on  the  public 
thoroughfare  outside  the  Temple,  where  he  enters 
not,  seated  in  eternal  night,  this  beggar  born  blind 
is  the  human  race.  He  lives  because  he  is  not  dead. 
His  whole  life  is  not  to  die.  He  sees  not  the  day, 
and  he  is  silent.  Here  is  man  in  the  very  depth  of  his 
misery  and  ruin.  Jesus,  whom  the  Jews  come  to  cast 
out  of  their  Temple,  goes  toward  him  ;  he  considers 
him  and  recognizes  his  worth. 

The  apostles,  having  remembered  that  the  Master 
had  said  to  the  paralytic  to  sin  no  more,  demanded 
whether  the  blind  man  were  in  this  state  through  the 
fault  of  his  parents.  Jesus  answered  them  that  neither 
the  man  born  blind  nor  his  parents  had  sinned — not 
that  he  was  born  without  original  sin,  but  that  neither 
himself  nor  his  parents  have  committed  the  sin  by  rea- 
son of  which  he  was  born  blind.  He  was  blind  in  or- 
der that  the  glory  of  God  might  be  manifested,  and  in 
order  that  this  sick  man  himself  might  receive  with 
sight  a  sense  far  more  precious  than  sight — -a  light  in- 
finitely superior  to  that  of  the  light  of  day,  which  is 
also  about  to   be  bestowed  on  him.     And  Jesus  adds  : 


L~ 


The  Life  of  our  Lord  Jesus   Christ. 


"  Whilst  I  am  in  the  world  I  am  the  light  of  the 
world."  Whilst — that  is,  to-day  and  to-morrow,  and  as 
long  as  the  world  lasts.  "  I  am  with  you  even  till  the 
consummation  of  ages."  The  world  shall  cease  to 
be  when  this  light  shall  shine  no  more  in  it. 

Of  a  little  earth  and  of  his  spittle  he  makes  a  clay, 
with  which  he  anoints  the  eyes  of  the  man  born  blind. 
Why  this  clay?  On  other  occasions  a  touch,  a  word, 
was  sufficient  for  him  ;  though  neither  touch  nor  word 
was  ever  necessary.  At  Cana  an  inward  thought  had 
changed  water  into  wine.  In  St.  Ambrose's  time  the 
Arians,  on  account  of  the  clay,  denied  the  miracle.  They 
said  this  liniment  was  some  secret  of  medicine  to  give 
sight  to,  and  perfect  the  eyes  of,  the  man  born  blind. 
The  modern  rationalists  have  taken  up  the  argument 
of  the  Arians.  St.  Ambrose  replies  :  "  Jesus  restored 
health.  He  did  not  use  medicine;  he  applied  no  re- 
medies." "  In  restoring  sight  to  the  man  born  blind," 
adds  St.  Augustine,  "Jesus  Christ  employs  clay  because 
he  is  the  same  God  who  formed  the  whole  man  out  of 
clay.  As  he  had  created,  he  repairs  ;  as  he  had  created 
to  his  image,  he  repairs  to  his  image  ;  because  this 
man  who  shall  see  will  instantly  and  boldly  confess  the 
truth."  St.  Augustine  sees  here  a  figure  of  the  Incar- 
nation. The  spittle  that  Jesus  mingles  with  the  clay 
is  the  emblem  of  the  Word,  of  the  wisdom  which  pro- 
ceeds from  the  mouth  of  the  Most  High.  The  clay  is 
the  humanity — it  is  man  formed  from  the  slime  of  the 
earth.  The  eyes  of  our  souls  have  been  illuminated  by 
this  spittle  and  this  clay  through  Christ  the  God-Man. 
The  balsam  which  imparts  light  to  us  is  the  Incarna- 
tion. 

Jesus  ordered  the  blind  man  to  go  wash  himself  in 
the  fountain  of  Siloe.     Siloe,  says  the  evangelist,  here 


The  Life  of  our  Lord  yesus  Chris/.  2S1 

lifting  up  the  veil,  signifies  envoy,  the  ambassador  of 
God— that  is,  the  Messias.  It  was  meet  that  the  incre- 
dulous Jews  should  see  the  man  born  blind,  his  eyes 
yet  covered  with  clay  ;  it  was  meet  the  blind  man  him- 
self should  give  a  proof  of  obedience  and  of  faith,  and 
receive  some  interior  light  from  the  name  of  that  foun- 
tain where  he  went  to  recover  his  sight,  and  at  the 
same  time  to  receive  a  sort  of  baptism.  This  inexhaus- 
tible fountain — the  fountain  of  the  envoy  of  God — is  a 
beautiful  image  of  Jesus  Christ,  the  eternal  source  of 
all  graces.  It  typifies  particularly  his  baptism,  which 
tends  to  enlighten  minds  after  the  evangelical  teaching 
is  given  to  them  ;  and  this  is  the  reason  the  Greeks  call 
baptism  illumination. 

The  blind  man,  with  a  faith  prompt  and  docile,  with- 
out raising  contradictions,  goes,  washes  himself,  and  sees 
clearly.  He  sees  as  if  he  had  always  seen.  Jesus  gave 
to  him  the  eyes  of  his  age — eyes  exercised,  and  which  \ 

knew  how  to  see;  supplying  by  his  power  all  that 
habit  and  use  effect,  in  order  that  man  may  avail  him- 
self of  his  eyes.     Therefore  he  performed  not  only  one 


miracle  with  a  little  clay,  but  a  collection  of  miracles. 
X  The  man  born  blind  is  not  ungrateful.     He  had  heard 


men  speak  of  Jesus,  and  he  could  not  be  ignorant  that 
Jesus  had  his  enemies.  He  does  not  cease  to  proclaim 
that  to  him  he  is  indebted  for  his  siq.lit  :  "  I  am  truly 
he.  This  man  whom  they  call  the  Saviour  prepared 
a  little  clay,  and  rubbed  my  eyes  with  it,  and  told  me 
to  go  wash  in  the  pool  of  Siloe.  I  went,  I  washed, 
and  I  see."  In  all  that  he  says  one  discovers  a  noble 
and  sincere  soul.  He  does  not  speak  of  the  spittle,  he 
does  not  say  more  than  he  knows,  and  he  did  not 
know  how  Jesus  had  made  this  clay.  Were  this  the 
place  to  discuss  the  question  of  the  literary  beauty  of 


282  The  Life  of  our  Lord  yes  us  Christ. 

( 
his  words,  we  could  point  to  the  language  so  expressive 
of  the  rapidity  of  the  miracle  :  "  Abii,  lavi,  ct  video  " 
— "  I  went,  I  washed,  and  I  see." 

In  the  presence  of  the  Pharisees  the  man  born  blind 
is  not  less  firm  and  resolute,  and  not  less  composed. 
He  is  a  confessor — the  first  confessor.  And  those  Pha- 
risees, those  incredulous  miracle-hunters— how  they  be- 
tray themselves  !  The  miracle  is  before  them,  living, 
speaking,  attested  by  the  multitude.  They  shut  their 
eyes  against  it  ;  they  do  not  wish  to  see  it,  to  acknow- 
ledge it.  And  their  hearts  are  filled  with  anguish  and  with 
a  rage  of  hatred.  Such  will  be  the  inward  blindness  of 
the  wicked.  They  have  not  taken  to  heart,  says  St. 
Augustine,  those  eyes  that  beam  in  the  countenance  of 
the  man  born  blind  ;  they  have  not  received  them,  be- 
cause they  do  not  Vish  to  obtain  redemption.  For  as 
the  natural  light  which  clarifies  bodies  is,  as  it  were,  the 
reflection  of  the  face  of  God,  the  Creator,  so  the  super- 
natural light  which  clarifies  our  understandings  is, 
according  to  the  expression  of  St.  Paul,  the  reflex  of 
the  benign  countenance  of  God  the  Redeemer. 

What  occupies  the  Jews  is  to  criminate  Jesus  for 
having  wrought  a  miracle  on  the  Sabbath  day.  What 
is  it  to  them  that  the  poor  are  cured  and  consoled,  that 
the  blind  see,  that  the  beggar  gets  his  daily  bread  ? 
The  uppermost  thought  in  their  mind  is  to  know  how 
they  can  apply  to  the  Benefactor  of  the  poor  an  article 
of  law  which  might  authorize  them  to  stone  him.  To 
facilitate  this  action  of  the  law  they  take  care  to  create 
a  crime.  They  did  not  say  that  Jesus  cured  on  the 
Sabbath  day  ;  to  cure  on  the  Sabbath  day  is  not  for- 
bidden.    They  accuse  him  of  violating  the  Sabbath. 

At  the  same  time  they  would  be  glad  to  have  it  in 
their  power  to  accuse  him  of  imposture.     Instantly  he 


The  Life  of  our  Lord  yesus  Christ.  283 


Even  in  these  severe  words  one  feels  how  compas- 
sionate is  his  soul.  But  to  manifest  it  more  he  pre- 
sents to  them  the  touching  figures  of  the  sheepfold  and 
the  good  shepherd.     He  sums  up  in  these  two  parables 


says  to  them  :  "  Which  of  you  will  convict  me  of  sin  ?" 
And  none  raised  his  head  to  confront  him.  Could  they 
not  prove  that  he  had  lied  ;  that  this  blind  man  who 
declares  himself  cured,  and  who  has  not  seen  him  yet 
was  not  blind  ?  But  all  their  efforts  but  tend  to  estab- 
lish more  solidly  the  truth  they  pretended  to  gainsay. 
Conquered,  divided  among  themselves,  they  give  up 
the  contest  by  driving  from  the  Temple  the  man  of 
heart,  who  will  not  consent  to  be  ungrateful  and  a  liar 
in  order  to  remain  there.  Ungrateful  and  liars  them- 
selves, they  could  not  better  forecast  the  character  of 
all  the  contests  which  shall  be  waged  against  the 
)  Gospel. 

The  Saviour  was  anxious  to   formulate  himself  the 

last  conclusions  of  this  procedure.     He  savs  to  the  man 
)  ( 

\  born  blind  and  cured  :   "  I  am  come  into  this  world  for 

judgment,  that  they  who  see  not   may  see,  and   they 

who  see  (and  who  render  themselves   unworthy  of  the 

light)  may  become  blind." 

These  words  are  applied  to  the  miracle  which  Jesus 

wrought   and  to  the  faith  of  the  man  born  blind,  and 

at  the  same  time,  in  a  spiritual  sense,  to  the  voluntary 

blindness  of  the  Pharisees.     Some  among  them  appear 

to  understand  him.     They  said  to  him:  "Are  we  all 

blind  ?  "     Jesus  replies  :  "  If  you  were  blind,  you  would 

be  without  sin."     But  now,  as  you  sa}',  you  see  clearly, 

your  sin  remains.     For,  having  the   knowledge  of  the 

Scriptures,  which  ought  to  lead  them  to  the  knowledge 

of  the  Messias,  they  did  not  see,  because  they  did  not 


wish  to  see. 


284 


The  Life  of  our  Lord  yesus  Christ. 


all  the  teachings  and  instructions  which  he  came  to  give 
in  that  laborious  mission  against  the  Pharisees,  but  for 
the  profit  of  the  Pharisees  themselves  if  they  but 
wished  it,  as  well  as  of  all  the  lost  sheep  of  the  house 
of  Israel. 

"  I  am  the  door.  By  me,  if  any  man  enter  in,  he 
shall  be  saved  :  and  he  shall  go  in,  and  go  out,  and  shall 
find  pastures.  The  thief  cometh  not,  but  for  to  steal 
and  to  kill  and  to  destroy.  I  am  come  that  they  may 
have  life,  and  may  have  it  more  abundantly.  I  am  the 
good  shepherd.  The  good  shepherd  givcth  his  life  for' 
his  sheep.  But  the  hireling  and  he  that  is  not  the 
shepherd,  whose  own  the  sheep  are  not,  seeth  the  wolf 
coming  and  leaveth  the  sheep,  and  flieth  :  and  the  wolf 
catcheth,  and  scattereth  the  sheep.  And  the  hireling 
flieth,  because  he  is  a  hireling;  and  he  hath  no  care  for 
the  sheep.  I  am  the  good  shepherd  ;  and  I  know  mine, 
and  mine  know  me.  As  the  Father  knoweth  me,  and 
I  know  the  Father:  and  I  lay  down  my  life  for  my 
sheep.  And  other  sheep  I  have,  that  are  not  of  this 
fold  :  them  also  I  must  bring,  and  they  shall  hear  my 
voice,  and  there  shall  be  one  fold  and  one  shepherd." 

But  it  should  not  be  that  this  sacrifice,  which  he  had 
so  often  announced,  and  which  he  yet  announces, 
should  be  charged  upon  him  one  day  as  either  an 
heroic  folly  or  an  inevitable  and  perhaps  involuntary 
consummation,  as  if,  at  the  end,  life  had  been  snatched 
from  him  rather  than  given  up  by  him.  He  therefore 
declares,  when  concluding,  two  things:  the  first,  that 
he  died  to  accomplish  his  Father's  will  ;  the  second, 
that  he  was  free  to  depart  or  not  to  depart  life,  and  to 
take  it  again  after  having  quitted  it.  "  And  this  is  why 
my  Father  loves  me — because  I  give  my  life  to  take  it 
again.       No  person  can   take  it  away  from  me  ;   but  I 


The  Life  of  our  Lord  J'esus  Christ.  285 

rive  it  of  my  own  accord.  And  it  is  in  my  power  to 
give  it  ;  and  'it  is  in  my  power  to  take  it  again.  Such 
is  the  order  I  have  received  from  my  Father." 

Divine  clearness  of  the  mystery  of  the   redemption,  j 

and  which  should  be  sufficient  to  make  us  comprehend, 
if  the  narrow  heart  of  man  could  comprehend  it,  all  the 
love  of  God  ! 


( 

( 

)  t 

} 

I 

1 


I  ( 


I 

) 


BOOK  V- 


DISCOURSES  AND  PARABLES. 


CHAPTER  I. 

MISSION   OF   THE   DISCIPLES — THE     SAMARITAN — MAR- 
THA  AND   MARY. 

JESUS  retires  to  the  confines  of  Judea,  either  to  Gali- 
lee or  the  country  known  by  the  name  of  Perea, 
where  the  powerful  ones  of  Jerusalem  could  not  reach 
him.  It  is  generally  thought  that  it  was  there  he 
chose  the  seventy-two  disciples  to  send  them  out  to 
preach  two  and  two  before  him  in  the  cities  where  he 
was  going  to  go.  The  number  seventy-two  signifies  the 
universality  of  nations.  As  light  pervades  and  illumines 
the  universe  in  twenty-four  hours,  says  St.  Augustine, 
so  the  function  of  illuminating  the  universe  by  the 
Gospel  of  the  Trinity  is  confined  to  seventy-two  disci- 
ples ;  for  three  times  twenty-four  makes  seventy-two. 
They  went  two  by  two  because  there  are  two  precepts 
of  charity  :  the  love  of  God  and  the  love  of  neigh- 
bor. He  who  has  not  charity  toward  his  neighbor 
ought  not  to  be  charged  with  the  ministry  of  preaching. 
This  association  of  two  for  the  service  of  the  Lord  is, 

286 


T/ie  Life  of  our  Lord  yes  us  Christ.  287 


besides,  very  ancient.  God  delivered  Israel  by  the  as- 
sociation of  Moses  and  Aaron  ;  and  it  is  written,  "  A 
brother  sustained  by  his  brother  is  like  a  fortified 
city." 

Jesus  gave  the  new  missionaries  instructions  like 
those  the  apostles  had  received,  with  the  power  of  cur- 
ing and  healing  diseases  and  casting  out  devils.  This 
is  the  complement  of  the  foundation  of  the  apostle- 
\  ship  : 

"  I  send  you  as  lambs  among  wolves;  in  whatsoever 
house  you  will  enter,  first  say  :  '  Peace  be  to  this  house.' 
Eat  and  drink  of  whatever  will  be  there  ;  for  the  labor- 
er is  worthy  of  his  hire.     Cure   the    sick  you  will  find 


therein,  and  say  to  them  :  '  The  kingdom  of  God  is 
nigh  unto  you'  ;  and  if  any  city  receives  you  not,  say 
to  the  inhabitants  :  '  We  shake  off  the  very  dust  of  your 
city,  which  clings  to  us,  against  you.'  And  I  say  to  you 
that  on  the   last  day  Sodom  will   be  treated  less  rigo- 


rously than  that  city.  .   .  .     He  who  hears  you   hears 


through  the  virtue  of  your  name."  Jesus  answers  them 
with  a  gentle  severity,  in  a  manner  to  preserve  them  in 


me  ;  and  he  who  despises  you  despises  me  ;  and  he  who 
despises    me  despises  Him  who  sent  me." 

The  seventy-two  went  and  returned  joyful.  "  Lord," 

they  say,  "  the  demons   themselves  are   subject   to    us 

) 
) 
) 


humility  : 

"  Behold,  I  have  given  you  power  to  tread  on  ser- 
pents and  scorpions,  and  on  all  the  power  of  the  enemy, 
without  receiving  any  hurt  from  them.  However, 
do  not  rejoice  that  you  have  power  over  the  devils  ; 
but  rejoice  that  your  names  arc  written  in  heaven." 
And  at  the  same  time,  thinking  of  the  happiness  of 
those  he  loved,  he  rejoices  in  the  Holy  Ghost  and  says: 
"  My  Father,  Lord  of  heaven  and  earth,  I  give  you 

( 

i 


r^ 


288  The  Life  of  our  Lord  yes  us  Christ. 

thanks  because,  keeping  those  things  concealed  from 
the  learned  and  the  wise,  it  has  pleased  you  to  reveal 
them  to  the  little  ones."  And  in  order  to  show  that 
he  disposes  of  all  things  as  the  Father,  he  adds  :  "  All 
things  have  been  delivered  to  me  by  my  Father,  and  no 
one  knoweth  who  the  Son  is  but  the  Father,  and  who 
the  Father  is  but  the  Son,  and  he  to  whom  the  Son 
chooses  to  reveal  him."  He  says  again  to  the  disci- 
ples: "Happy  the  eyes  that  see  what  you  see.  For 
many  kings  and  prophets  have  desired  to  seethe  things 
that  you  see,  and  have  not  seen  them  ;  to  hear  the  things 
that  you  hear,  and  have  not  heard  them."  And  then, 
addressing  himself  to  the  multitude,  to  those  who  have 
lived  in  bygone  ages,  to  us  who  now  exist,  to  those 
who  shall  exist  till  the  end  of  the  world,  "  Come  to 
me,  all  you  who  labor  and  are  burdened,  and  I  will  re- 
fresh you  ;  take  my  yoke  on  you  and  learn  of  me,  be- 
cause I  am  meek  and  humble  of  heart,  and  you  will 
find  peace  to  your  souls  ;  for  my  yoke  is  sweet  and 
my  burden  is  light." 

St.  Augustine  gives  brilliancy  of  thought  to  the 
deep  meaning  of  this  discourse.  Those  who  take 
upon  them  the  yoke  of  Jesus,  says  he,  have  to  bear 
such  afflictions  that  it  seems  to  them  not  to  pass  from 
labor  to  repose,  but,  on  the  contrary,  from  repose  to 
labor;  but  the  Holy  Ghost  is  there,  who  incessantly 
renews  the  interior  man  amid  the  ruins  of  the  outward 
man.  Through  the  affluence  of  the  delights  of  God 
all  dejection  and  sadness  are  turned  into  interior  joys  ; 
those  who  love  cannot  suffer. 

Thus  Jesus  appears  to  us  always  meek,  humble,  com- 
passionate, and  divine  ;  lavish  of  the  wealth  of  his 
unbounded  compassion  in  proportion  as  he  multiplies 
the  proofs  of  his  universal  sovereignty. 


The  Life   of  our  Lord  yesus  Christ.  289 

The  same  day  a  doctor  of  the  law,  probably  one  of 
those  mischievous  declaimers  who  overran  Judea,  de- 
famers  of  Jesus,  says  to  him,  with  a  view  to  entrap 
him:  "  Master,  what  must  I  do  to  gain  eternal  life?" 
He  hoped  for  some  expression  contrary  to  the  law  of 
Moses.  Jesus  answers  him  :  "  What  does  the  law 
command  ?  What  do  you  read  in  it  ?  "  By  this  ques- 
tion he  obliges  him  to  give  of  himself  an  evangelical  re- 
sponse. He  will  prove  to  him  afterwards  that  in  citing 
the  text  of  the  law  he  is  ignorant  of  its  meaning.  The 
doctor  then  replies:  "Thou  shalt  love  the  Lord  thy 
God  with  thy  whole  heart,  and  with  thy  whole  soul, 
and  with  thy  whole  mind  ;  and  thy  neighbor  as  thy 
self."  Jesus  said  to  him  :  "You  have  answered  well. 
Do  that,  and  you  will  live." 

Forthwith  the  doctor,  wishing  to  glorify  himself  in 
his  justice,  says  to  Jesus  :  "  And  who  is  my  neighbor  ?  " 
We  see  here  that  the  first  question  of  this  man  was 
crafty,  and  that  he  had  no  love  for  this  neighbor,  since 
he  did  not  esteem  that  any  one  could  or  should  be  his 
neighbor.  He  repeats  very  well  what  it  was  necessary 
to  do  to  acquire  eternal  life,  but  he  does  not  consider 
the  first  word  of  what  he  recites.  He  is  full  of  himself, 
and  void  of  the  love  of  God.  Not  loving  his  brother, 
whom  he  sees,  he  cannot  love  God,  whom  he  does  not 
see.  But  St.  Cyril  adds  that  he  knows  not  his  neighbor, 
because  he  does  not  believe  in  Christ.  He  who  does 
not  know  Christ  is  ignorant  of  the  law.  Misunder- 
standing the  truth,  he  cannot  know  the  law  which 
declares  the  truth. 

Jesus  says:  "A  certain  man  went  down  from  Jeru- 
salem to  Jericho,  and  fell  among  robbers,  who  also 
stripped  him,  and  having  wounded  him  went  away 
leaving-;  him  half  dead.     And  it  chanced  that  a  certain 


290 


The  Life  of  oar  Lord  yesus  Christ. 


priest  went  down  the  same  way  ;  and  seeing  him,  passed 
by.  In  like  manner  also  a  Lévite,  when  he  was  near  the 
place  and  saw  him,  passed  away.  But  a  certain  Sama- 
ritan being  on  his  journey,  came  near  him  ;  and  seeing 
him  was  moved  with  compassion.  And  going  up  to 
him,  bound  up  his  wounds,  pouring  in  oil  and  wine  ; 
and  setting  him  upon  his  own  beast  brought  him  to  an 
inn,  and  took  care  of  him.  And  the  next  day  he  took 
out  two  pence,  and  gave  to  the  host,  and  said  :  Take 
care  of  him  ;  and  whatsoever  thou  shalt  spend  over  and 
above,  I  at  my  return  will  repay  thee." 

Jesus,  addressing  himself  to  the  doctor  of  the  law, 
demanded  of  him  :  "  Which  seems  to  you  to  have  been 
the  neighbor  of  him  who  had  fallen  into  the  hands  of 
robbers?"  "He,"  replied  the  doctor,  "  who  had  had 
compassion  and  who  assisted  him."  Jesus  says  to 
him  :  "  Go,  and  do  likewise." 

This  man  who  went  down  from  Jerusalem — the  vision 
of  peace — towards  Jericho — the  city  of  evil — is  Adam; 
it  is  the  human  race.  He  quitted  his  country  for  exile  ; 
he  goes  down  from  sunny  heights,  and  wanders  in  re- 
gions of  darkness  ;  and  there  he  meets  with  angels  of 
darkness,  who  strip  him  naked,  cover  him  with  wounds, 
and  leave  him  helpless.  He  is  half  dead,  and  what 
of  life  remains  in  him  is  not  sufficient  to  enable  him  to 
raise  his  drooping  head.  Wounded  and  bruised  in  his 
free  will,  Adam  could  not  regain  the  eternal  life  he  had 
Jost.  Behold  him,  then,  helplessly  prostrate,  covered 
with  wounds.  Aaron  the  priest  sees  him  and  can  do 
nothing  for  him  ;  he  passes  by.  Moses  the  Lévite 
sees  and  can  do  nothing  for  him,  and  he  passes  him  by. 
Neither  the  law  nor  the  prophets  can  cure  the  human 
race  ;  and  because  they  cannot  cure,  they  must  pass  by. 
The  law  made  known  the  sin,  but  did  not  abolish  it. 


The  Life  of  our  Lord  yesus  Christ.  291 

And,  besides,  it  was  not  given  for  that  purpose,  because 
at  the  beginning  man  could  not  receive  the  mystery  of 
Christ.  And  if  the  priest  and  the  Lévite  have  felt  a 
first  movement  of  compassion,  it  was  very  quickly  stifled 
by  the  hardness  of  their  hearts  ;  and  they  pass  by  with 
the  law  unaccomplished,  which  tells  them  in  vain  to 
love  their  neighbor  as  themselves.  They  do  not  love 
their  neighbor,  because  they  do  not  love  God  ;  and  on 
account  of  this  obduracy  they  are  enemies  to  them- 
selves without  knowing  it. 

There  comes  a  Samaritan.  That  man,  a  stranger  by 
race,  is  a  neighbor  by  compassion.  Jesus  himself  is 
that  Samaritan.  Samaritan  means  guardian,  protector. 
It  is  written  of  him:  "He  who  watches  over  Israel 
will  neither  slumber  nor  will  he  sleep."  When  they 
accused  him  of  being  a  Samaritan  and  possessed  of  a 
devil,  he  denied  that  he  was  possessed  ;  he  does  not 
protest  against  the  injury  which  one  of  those  titles 
inflict  on  him — that  of  guardian  of  the  weak  and 
afflicted.  Now,  this  Samaritan  was  on  a  journey  ; 
Jesus  was  really  a  traveller,  and  he  descended  for  us  to 
earth,  and  turned  not  from  his  course.  The  object  of 
his  journey  was  to  help  the  human  race  wounded, 
bleeding,  stripped  naked,  half  dead.  He  becomes 
our  neighbor  by  assuming  our  nature — our  neighbor 
through  mercy.  He  had  compassion,  and  he  drew 
near  to  us.  The  distance  he  had  to  traverse  to  come 
to  our  relief  was  immense.  What  more  separated 
than  God  and  man  ?  The  divine  wisdom,  that  it 
might  reach  mankind,  created  the  miracle  of  Jesus. 
Having  in  himself  justice  and  immortality,  seeing  in 
us  sin  and  death,  Jesus  took  not  upon  him  the  two 
evils  which  would  have  rendered  him  equal  to  us,  and 
would  have  placed  him  in  the  necessity  of  being  re- 


The  Life  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ. 

deemed  with  us.  In  order  to  be  near  us,  with  us,  and  not 
be  what  we  are,  though  he  could  not  become  a  sinner, 
he  became  mortal.  Assuming  chastisement  without 
assuming  guilt,  he  abolishes  both  guilt  and  punishment. 
The  Samaritan,  coming  to  the  abandoned  and  help- 
less man,  bandages  his  wounds,  after  having  poured  on 
them  oil  and  wine — the  oil  of  mercy,  which  assuages, 

|  mollifies   the    wounds  ;    the    wine    of    justice,    which 

cleanses  from  corruption.  The  oil  is  the  consolation 
of  hope  ;  the  wine  is  the  exhortation  to  fervor.  The 
oil,  again,  represents  the  human  nature  of  the  Physician  ; 
the  wine,  his  divine  nature.    For  Jesus  Christ  has  acted 

)  sometimes  humanly  and  sometimes  divinely.     He  has 

poured  out  oil  and  wine  by  saving  us  by  his  humanity 
and  his  divinity  ;    he  has  taught  us  to  mingle  severity 

\  with  gentleness,  so  that  we  may  be  neither  ulcerated 

by  excess  of  rigor  nor  mollified  by  excess  of  condescen- 
sion. And  after  having  dressed  our  wounds  he  bound 
them  up  by  imposing  on  us  a  check  of  a  severe  law, 
without  which  it  would  be  impossible  for  us  to  regain 
our  former  health. 

The  Samaritan  puts  the  bleeding  and  bruised  man 
on  his  horse  ;  the  Good  Shepherd  carries  on  his 
shoulders  the  lost  sheep.  Jesus  Christ  eradicates  the 
infirmity  of  our  flesh  by  taking  it  upon  himself.  Under 
the  figure  of  the  Samaritan  behold  him  already  open- 
ing his  arms,  between  which  we  shall  be,  not  led,  but 
carried  off,  to  the  bosom  of  the  Church,  where  our  re- 
storation to  health  will  be  achieved. 

The  law  did  not  receive  all  men.  It  is  written  that 
the  Moabite  and  the  Ammonite  did  not  enter  into  the 
Church  of  God;  but  now  the  Church  is  the  inn  open 
to  everybody  who  wills  to  believe.  Come,  ye  from 
every  nation  ;  come,  ye  bowed   down  with  every  sor- 


"1 


The  Life  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ.  293 

row  ;  come,  ye  wounded  ;  come,  ye  bruised  and  bleed- 
ing ;  come  to  the  baptism  of  God,  to  the  feast  of  God, 

\  to   the  hospitality  and    friendship    of   God.      For  the 

Samaritan  is  satisfied  with  lodging  and  caring  for 
the  wounded  man  in  the  inn.  He  enters  with  him, 
dwells  with  him,  takes  care  of  him. 

Nevertheless,  the  Samaritan  cannot  remain.  The 
following  day  he  gives  the  innkeeper  two  pieces  of  sil- 
ver, and  says  to  him  :  "  Take  care  of  this  man,  and 
what  you  charge  over  and  above  at  my  return  I  will 
pay  you."  These  two  pieces  of  money  are  the  two 
Testaments,  which  are  stamped  with  the  likeness  of  the 
Eternal  King,  and  in  which  the  Church  finds  the  in- 

)  finitely  precious  value  of  his  charity  ;  they  are  the  two 

commandments  of  the  love  of  God  and  of  the  love  of 
neighbor  which  the  apostles  received  to  evangelize 
the  earth  ;  they  are  the  promise  of  the  present  life  and 
of  the  future  life:  "Hoc  fac  et  vives."  Those  two 
pieces  of  money  are  also  the  knowledge  of  the  mystery 
by  which  the  Father  is  in  the  Son  and  the  Son  in  the 
Father.  The  Church  receives  this  illumination,  this 
heavenly  insight,  in  recompense  for  the  care  she  af- 
fords to  the  man,  wounded  and  bruised,  who  has  been 
confided  to  her,  and  whom  the  Saviour  himself  took 

j  care  of  for  some  time. 

"  And  what  ycu  demand  over  and  above  I  will  pay 
to  you  on  my  return."  For  this  innkeeper,  this  new 
priest,  is  not  the  mercenary  who  renders  only  those 
services  whose  price  is  stipulated  for  and  paid  ;  nor 
the  mechanical  instrument,  as  it  were,  that  goes  not 
beyond  the  required  labor.  The  apostles,  full  of  the 
Spirit  of  God,  paid  over  and  above.  To  precept  they 
added  counsel  ;  on  duty  they  placed  the  crown  of  per- 
fection.    Although  it  might  be  allowed   them  to  live 


The  Life  of  our  Lord  J"esus  Christ. 

by  the  Gospel,  yet  they  lived  by  the  labor  of  their 
hands  ;  they  sought  the  cross  when  they  could  have 
avoided  it.  But  it  is  not  possible  for  man  to  be  more 
generous  than  Jesus.  "  At  my  return  I  will  pay  you." 
This  return,  his  coming  back  again,  will  be  the  day  of 
judgment.  He  will  pay  without  measure  those  who 
have  served  him  without  measure. 

After  this  recital  Jesus  interrogates  the  doctor. 
"  Which  was  this  man's  neighbor?"  The  doctor, 
puffed  up  with  the  knowledge  of  the  law,  must  never- 
theless admit  that  neither  the  priest  nor  the  Lévite, 
who  lived  under  the  law,  knew  what  the  law  com- 
manded. The  Samaritan  alone  fulfils  its  prescriptions. 
Jesus  says  to  him  :  "  Go,  and  do  likewise."  When  you 
see  an  unfortunate  creature,  whether  he  be  Jew  or 
Gentile,  behold  your  neighbor.  The  dignity  of  the 
priesthood  is  nothing,  the  knowledge  of  the  law  is  no- 
thing, if  good  works  be  wanting.  Whosoever  is  merci- 
ful, he  it  is  who  fulfils  the  law. 

Other  circumstances  led  the  Saviour  to  repeat  the 
instruction  on  prayer.  He  speaks  of  the  power  of 
constant  prayer,  of  which  the  example  of  the  Chanaan- 
ite  had  been  so  striking  an  example.  To  him  every- 
thing was  an  occasion  of  instruction,  and  he  hastened 
to  seize  it.  He  spread  abroad  those  creative  words 
which  revealed  to  men  the  spiritual1-  life  and  establish- 
ed charity.  At  the  same  time  the  hypocrisy,  pride,  false 
knowledge,  and  obduracy  of  the  Jews  and  of  the  doc- 
tors of  the  law  are  overwhelmed  with  terrible  anathe- 
mas. Through  charity  for  those  whom  their  false  jus- 
tice and  false  wisdom  led  astray,  and  through  pity  for 
themselves,  he  treats  them  as  they  were  accustomed 
to  treat  sinners;  but  he  applies  himself  especially  to 
portray  them  in  order  to  give  a  lesson  to  his  Church 


The  Life  of  our  Lord  ye  su  s  Christ.  295 

so  that  the  illusion  of  false  justice  should  never  be 
able  to  corrupt  the  truth  in  her.  In  reality,  he  has 
preserved  her  from  this  danger.  There  are  Pharisees 
in  the  midst  of  Christianity,  because  all  the  vices  are 
of  human  origin  ;  but  there  is  no  greater  stranger 
to  the  Church  than  Phariseeism  in  doctrine  and  in 
morals. 

At  that  moment  a  sentiment  wis  expressed  justly 
considered  among  the  profoundest  and  the  most  fruit- 
ful that  may  have  fallen  from  the  lips  of  the  God- 
Man. 

Passing  through  Bethania,  Jesus  stops  at  the  house 
of  a  woman  named  Martha,  sister  of  that  Mary  Mag- 
dalene, the  penitent  and  pardoned  sinner,  whom  we 
saw  at  the  banquet  of  Simon  the  Pharisee.  Martha 
occupies  herself  at  once  with  the  repast  she  wished  to 
prepare  for  her  guest  and  the  disciples,  while  Mary, 
seated  at  the  feet  of  the  Master,  hears  him  speak  ;  for 
Jesus,  giving  an  example  to  the  apostles,  did  not  enter 
solely  to  rest,  but  chiefly  to  teach.  But  Martha  pre 
sented  herself  before  him,  and  said:  "  Lord,  do  you 
not  see  how  my  sister  leaves  me  to  serve  all  alone? 
Tell  her,  then,  to  come  and  assist  me."  Jesus  answers 
her  affectionately  :  "  Martha,  Martha,  you  trouble  your- 
self about  many  things;  but,  truly,  there  is  but  one 
thing  necessary.  Mary  has  chosen  the  better  part, 
vvhich  shall  not  be  taken  away  from  her." 

Of  all  this  discourse  of  Jesus  the  Holy  Ghost  has 
preserved  for  us  but  this  saying,  which  expresses  the 
only  thing  necessary  for  the  present  and  the  eternal 
happiness  of  the  soul  ;  the  only  thing  without  which 
all  the  rest  is  but  trouble  and  torment,  or  but  a  tran- 
sient joy  which  will  be  very  soon  snatched  away  from 
us.      Jesus    did  not  blame  the  eagerness  of  Martha, 


The  Life  of  our  Lord  yesus   Christ. 


who  was  anxious  to  serve  him  ;  but  he  warned  her 
that  every  work  done  for  God  must  be  done  with  calm- 
ness and  humility,  and  that  it  is  by  love  he  is  best 
served  ;  that  there  is  nothing  more  timely  than  to  lis- 
ten to  Jesus  Christ  and  to  attach  one's  self  to  him  alone. 
By  this  expression  he  raises  the  contemplative  life  far 
above  the  active  life,  however  laudable  may  be  the 
action  ;  for  it  is  the  contemplative  life  which  is  truly 
fruitful  for  heaven,  which  produces  even  here  below 
the  greatest  works.  The  contemplation  of  God  makes 
known  his  beauty  ;  beauty  illumines  love  ;  love  gives 
out  that  ample  flame,  that  living  fire,  which  is  sacrifice. 
All  the  saints  have  contemplated  God  ;  and  this  is  why 
they  wished  to  live  and  die  for  him.  Martha  served 
the  Lord,  but  Mary  contemplated  him  ;  and  it  is 
Mary  who  will  be  at  the  foot  of  the  cross. 


CHAPTER   II. 

THE  WOMAN  BOWED  TOGETHER— THE  BANQUETS  AT 
WHICH  JESUS  ASSISTED— THE  DROPSICAL  MAN- 
LECTURES    TO    THE    PHARISEES. 

AMAN  came  to  ask  Jesus  to  divide  an  inheritance 
between  himself  and  his  brother.  Jesus  did 
not  wish  to  do  it,  and  said  to  him  who  besought 
him  :  "  Take  heed  and  beware  of  covetousness,  for  a 
man's  life  does  not  consist  in  the  abundance  of  the 
things  which  he  possesses."  On  this  occasion  he  pro- 
poses the  parable  of  the  rich  miser  of  whom  God  de- 
manded an  account  of  his  soul,  whilst  he  was  intent  on 
filling  up  his  granaries  with  the  fruits  of  the  earth. 

He  insists  on  alms,  on  confidence  in  God,  on  humi- 
lity and  penance.  All  these  short  and  sweet  words  have 
become  the  noble  laws  of  Christian  society.  He  min- 
gles in  them  prophecies  concerning  the  Church,  the 
second  coming,  the  reprobation  and  conversion  of  the 

Jews. 

Thus  he  everywhere  taught  wherever  occasion  pre- 
sented itself,  but  more  particularly  on  the  Sabbath  day, 
in  the  synagogues,  where  the  people  thronged  to  hear 
him  ;  and  this  was  a  continual  motive  of  wrath  among 
the  Pharisees. 

One  day,  being  at  the  synagogue,  he  saw  among  the 
audience  a  woman  bent  down  by  a  spirit  of  infirmity 

297 


298 


The  Life  of  our  Lord  Jïsus  Christ. 


for  eighteen  years.  She  could  not  look  upwards.  He 
said  to  her:  "Woman,  you  are  freed"  ;  and  forthwith 
she  raised  herself  and  glorified  God.  The  chief  of  the 
Pharisees  was  much  irritated  at  this.  But  not  daring 
to  attack  Jesus,  whose  retorts  he  dreaded,  he  attacks 
and  blames  the  poor  woman  now  healed  and  all  the  peo- 
ple who  manifested  joy.  "  Are  there  not  six  days  in  the 
week,"  he  says  to  them,  "  to  work?  Come,  then,  on 
one  of  those  days  and  be  cured,  and  not  on  the  Sabbath 
day."  Despite  this  cunning  shift,  the  Pharisee  could 
not  avoid  the  telling  reprimand  :  "  Ye  hypocrites,  doth 
not  each  of  you  on  the  Sabbath  day  loose  his  ox  or  his 
ass  from  the  stall,  and  lead  it  to  the  water  ?  And  this 
woman,  whom  Satan  has  held  bowed  down  for  eighteen 
years — is  it  not  proper  to  heal  her  on  the  Sabbath 
day  ?  " 

Whether  on  account  of  Adam's  transgression,  which 
introduced  into  the  world  infirmities  and  death,  or 
whether  on  account  of  her  own  crimes  this  woman  suf- 
fered through  the  malice  of  the  demon,  God  has  left  to 
Satan  this  power,  so  that  mankind  should  experience 
the  desire  of  becoming  better;  but  because  Satan  is 
wicked,  he  endeavors  to  exercise  his  power,  so  as  to 
render  mankind  more  wicked.  He  applies  himself  to 
remove  from  their  view  the  sight  of  heaven,  so  that 
men  may  suffer  and  lose  all  hope  ;  he  bends  down  the 
wicked  to  the  earth  like  the  brutes.  The  head  of  man 
was  made  to  turn  itself  towards  heaven  ;  this  woman 
could  not  raise  her  head  and  look  heavenward.  Jesus 
calls  her  by  a  movement  of  his  preventive  grace  : 
"  Thou  art  freed."  He  touches  her  with  his  hand. 
"  Now,  daughter  of  Abraham,  look  heavenward.  The 
demon  has  no  longer  power  over  thee  ;  thy  bonds  are 
broken."     She  stands  erect  and  glorifies  God. 


The  Life  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ.  299 

Like  those  who  were  enraged  against  the  man  born 
blind,  the  ruler  of  the  synagogue,  witness  of  the  mira- 
cle, sees  in  it  but  the  glory  which  will  result  to  Jesus  ; 
he  would  prefer  that  this  woman  should  always  remain 
in  her  deplorable  condition,  bent  down  to  the  earth  like 
a  beast,  rather  than  that  Jesus  should  be  glorified. 
We  see  here  all  rulers  of  synagogues,  all  masters  and 
disciples  of  every  school  of  error.  They  would  prefer 
that  the  Church  should  not  do  the  good  that  she  can 
and  does  accomplish,  so  that  she  might  not  be  honored 
and  esteemed.  Above  all,  those  teachers  of  error  do 
not  wish  that  she  would  reform  mankind  and  make  it 
look  heavenward.  Some  seek  a  pretext  for  curbing  her 
influence  in  the  very  worship  of  God.  Others  seek  a 
pretext  in  the  well-being  of  man  himself.  They  say 
that  it  is  ruinous  to  man  to  raise  him  up  ;  that  his 
interest  is  to  grovel  and  be  bent  down  to  the  earth. 
They  employ  every  sophism  ;  they  use  force  to  turn 
away  the  people  from  coming  to  Jesus  Christ,  whether 
on  the  Sabbath  day  or  on  other  days.  They  fear,  above 
all  things,  that  man  should  hear  this  word  :  Sur  sum 
corda.  Yet,  at  the  very  time  that  they  strain  every 
nerve  to  extinguish  the  light  of  the  Gospel,  they  throw 
off  its  yoke.  They  unharness  the  ox  and  the  ass,  the 
brutal  instinct  ;  they  lead  them  to  the  pool  ;  they  have 
ready  muddy  and  stagnant  waters  that  extinguish  rea- 
son and  make  the  light  hateful.  When  they  have  thus 
accustomed  man  to  a  taste  for  uncleanness  and  a  love 
of  darkness,  they  will  say  to  him  :  "  You  see  !  We 
have  set  you  free."  And  they  will  make  him  work  for 
them. 

Christ  instructs  his  Church  to  fear  not  :  Those  ene- 
mies will  say  what  they  wish,  they  will  do  what  they 
can,  against  you.     I  say  to  you,  speak,  act,  accomplish, 


3oo  The  Life  of  our  Lord  yesus  Christ. 

the  work  of  my  love.  In  spite  of  their  menaces,  spread 
abroad  the  truth,  spread  the  light  ;  and,  if  it  be  neces- 
sary that  you  should  give  light  to  the  world  from  the 
gibbet's  height,  that  those  victims  of  the  demon  may 
raise  their  heads  again  and  be  free,  do  as  I  have  done — 
die! 

A  few  days  after  that  Jesus  provoked  anew  his  ad- 
versaries. He  went  in  to  eat  on  the  Sabbath  day  to  a 
house  of  the  Pharisees.  All  observed  him.  Among 
the  number  there  was  a  dropsical  man  who  stood  be- 
fore him.  Jesus  said  to  the  doctors,  "  Is  it  lawful  to 
heal  on  the  Sabbath  day?"  They  all  kept  silence. 
Then  Jesus  took  the  dropsical  man  by  the  hand,  healed 
him,  and  sent  him  away.  Then,  knowing  the  thoughts 
of  the  guests,  Jesus  said  to  them  :  "  Who  among  you, 
if  his  ox  or  his  ass  should  fall  into  a  ditch,  would  not 
forthwith  draw  it  out  ?  "  And  they  knew  not  what  to 
answer. 

This  was  the  fourth  banquet  at  which  we  behold 
Jesus.  As  at  others,  he  performs  at  this  also  a  great 
act  of  mercy,  and  imparts  sublime  teaching.  He  went 
to  those  feasts  because  there  also  they  had  need  to  see 
him,  and  because  those  whom  he  found  there  did  not 
come  to  hear  him.  It  was  his  ardent  desire  to  save 
the  Pharisees  themselves,  at  the  same  time  that  he 
brought  the  benefit  of  his  presence  to  their  servants,  to 
whom  they  would  not  allow  the  freedom  to  go  to  him, 
Like  the  dove  that  embraces  her  little  ones  threatened 
by  the  fowler,  says  St.  Augustine,  he  appeared  corpo- 
rally amid  the  rejoicings  of  the  world.  Even  now  he 
appears  again  to  our  mind  to  recall  us  to  where  there 
are  true  feasting  and  true  joy. 

On  account  of  the  great  renown  of  Jesus,  the  Phari- 
sees voluntarily  received  him  ;  they  even  invited  him, 


The  Life  of  our  Lord  yesus  Christ. 


but,  instead   of  hearing  him,  they  watched  him.     He 
\  knew  it  ;  he  saw  their  malice  when  the  dropsical  man 

I  advanced    and     stood    before    him,    a  model  of    faith 

in  his  mute  and  persevering  prayer.  The  Pharisees 
thought  within  themselves:  "What  will  he  do?  If 
he  cures  this  malady  we  will  accuse  him  of  violating  the 
Sabbath  ;  and  if  he  sends  him  off  without  healing  him, 
he  is  then  not  so  merciful  as  the  simple  and  weak- 
minded  people  supposed  he  was."  Jesus,  by  one  word, 
already  pronounced  on  a  similar  occasion,  baffles  them: 
"  Is  it  permitted  to  heal  on  the  Sabbath  day?  " 

The  Pharisees  dared  say  nothing.  This  question, 
which  they  unanimously  solved  against  Jesus,  was  con- 
troverted among  themselves.  Many  contended  that 
none  should  administer  a  cure  unless  there  were  danger 
of  death  ;  others  were  less  rigorous.  Jesus  shows  them 
that,  despite  their  malice  and  wicked  intent  on  his  life, 


they  are  powerless  to  seize  him  without  his  voluntary 
surrender.     He  despises  their  machinations  and  fears 


sanctify  festival  days,  and  to  consecrate  them  to 
charity.  He  rewards  the  faith  of  the  dropsical  man, 
who  humbly  waits,  not  presuming  to  implore  his  aid, 
except  by  exhibiting  before  him  his  disease.  The 
dropsical  man  is  cured.  Behold  the  crime  for  which 
the  Pharisees  traduce  the  loving  Jesus.  He  hears  the 
murmurs  which  they  dare  not  articulate,  and  he  replies 
to  them  :  "  If  your  ox  or  your  ass — the  least  temporal 
)  interest  that  can  be  in  danger  of  beine  lost — were  im- 


not  their  envy.     He  teaches  them  that  it  is  good  to 


perilled,    then    you  would    care  very  little    about    the 
Sabbath."  ( 

The  ox  and  the  ass  are  named  to  renew  in  the  mind 
of  the   Pharisees  the  prophecy  of  Isaias,  and  to  give  I 

them  the  interpretation   of  it  :    "  The    ox   knows   his 


302 


The  Life  of  our  Lo7'd  yesus  Christ. 


master,  and  the  ass  his  master's  stable  ;  but  Israel  has 
not  known  me."  The  ox  tied  to  the  yoke  is  the 
Jewish  people,  whose  neck  is  hardened  under  the  yoke 
of  the  law.  The  ass  is  the  symbol  of  the  Gentiles, 
subject  to  all  errors.  He  who  will  come  at  the  last  day 
to  draw  them  from  the  pit  wherein  they  have  fallen  is 
he  who  cures  all  diseases,  who  delivers  from  all  capti- 
vity, who  dispels  all  darkness.  What  the  Pharisees  do 
through  avarice  he  will  do  through  charity. 

Avarice  was  the  capital  vice  of  the  Pharisees.  The 
dropsical  man  was  a  perfect  figure  of  this  vice.  The 
dropsical  man  is  burning  with  an  insatiable  thirst  ;  one 
part  of  his  body  is  horribly  swollen,  the  other  part  is 
dried  up,  parched.  From  this  body,  where  all  is  chang- 
ed into  corrupt  humors,  a  fetid  breath  is  exhaled. 
This  is  the  avaricious  man  ;  ever  changing,  always 
insatiable,  poor  in  the  lap  of  abundance,  having  no 
other  thoughts  but  filthy  lucre,  only  aspiring  to 
quench  his  thirst  of  that  gold  that  swells  and  kills 
him.  St.  Paul  says  that  avarice  is  an  idolatry.  Who  can 
cure  this  evil  ?  Jesus  can  do  it.  We  must  importune 
him,  as  did  the  dropsical  man,  by  presenting  ourselves 
before  him.  Erat  ante  ilium,  says  the  Gospel,  point- 
ing out  with  divine  conciseness  the  steadfastness  in 
prayer  and  the  strength  of  hope  in  that  man  who 
wished  to  be  healed.  He  came  forth  without  being 
invited,  and  he  stands  there  braving  the  gibes  and 
sneers  and  taunts  of  the  bystanders,  only  heeding  him 
who  healed,  teaching  the  world  to  ask  and  obtain 
miracles.  Jesus  takes  him  by  the  hand,  heals  him, 
and  sends  him  away. 

The  hideous  disease  which  this  man  harbored  in  his 
body  the  Pharisees  had  in  their  souls.  So,  in  order  to 
heal  them  and  apply  the  remedies  which  were  suitable 


The  Life  of  our  Lord  "Jesus  Christ.  303 

for  the  wound  of  those  souls,  inflated  and  hardened, 
Jesus    gives  them   the  beautiful  lesson   not  to  thrust  ( 

themselves  in  the  first  places,  as  they  were  always 
eager  and  anxious  to  do.     "  For  whosoever  exaltcth  < 

himself  shall  be  humbled  ;  and  whosoever  humblcth 
himself  shall  be  exalted."  He  recommends  them  to 
give  banquets  to  the  poor  rather  than  to  the  rich,  be- 
cause the  rich  will  repay  what  is  given  to  them,  but 
what  is  given  to  the  poor  God  will  repay  it.  These 
things  appear  to  us  common  enough  ;  they  that  become 
so  only  through  Jesus  Christ  and  through  his  Church, 
to  whom  he  has  taught  them. 

One  of  the  invited  guests  exclaimed  :  "  Happy  the 
one  who  will  be  at  the  feast  in  the  kingdom  of  God  !  " 
Jesus  replies  by  the  parable  of  those  who  refused  to 
resort  to  the  feast  of  the  father  of  the  household.  The 
invited  guests  first  called  alleged  divers  pretexts  and 
did  not  come.  One  was  going  to  look  after  his  farm  ; 
another  wished  to  try  a  yoke  of  oxen  newly  purchased  ; 
another  replied  that  he  was  going  to  get  married. 
Thus  the  care  and  anxiety  for  temporal  affairs  estrange 
men  from  the  things  of  God.  All  that  is  in  the 
world,  the  apostle  says,  is  the  concupiscence  of  the 
flesh,  the  concupiscence  of  the  eyes,  and  the  pride 
of  life.  The  householder  orders  the  poor  to  be  gather- 
ed in  :  the  lame,  the  blind,  even  the  vagrants  who 
stroll  along  the  streets  ;  he  wishes  them  to  be  com- 
pelled to  enter,  so  that  the  banquet-hall  should  be  filled 
up.  This  is  a  prophecy  of  the  vocation  of  the  Gentiles 
and  of  the  multitude  of  sinners  who  shall  be  washed 
and  clothed  with  festive  robes,  so  as  to  participate  in  the 
feast  of  God.  The  proud  refuse  ;  the  humble  are  chos- 
en. "Gather  in  those  on  the  highways  and  along  the 
hedges,"  says  the  father  of  the  family,  "  and  compel 


The  Life  of  our  Lord  yesus  Christ. 

them  to  enter."  This  is  that  famous  compelle  intrare 
which  has  so  much  shocked  heretics  and  scandalized 
so  much  the  false  wisdom  of  a  great  number  of  or- 
thodox believers.  The  Gentiles  come  from  the  roads 
and  the  market-places  of  the  town.  Heretics,  says  St 
Augustine,  come  from  the  hedge-rows  ;  for  those  who 
plant  hedges  establish  divisions.  Let  them  be  re- 
moved from  the  hedges.  Let  them  be  snatched  from 
among  the  thorns.  But  they  do  not  wish  to  be  forced. 
We  will  enter,  they  say,  by  our  own  will.  This  is  not 
what  God  has  commanded  :  Compelle  intrare.  Let  the 
necessity  come  from  the  outside.  Thence  is  born  the 
will.  And  this  compulsion,  adds  St.  Gregory,  often  is 
from  God  and  his  mercy.  Those  enter  through  vio- 
lence who,  harassed  and  bruised  by  the  adversities 
of  the  world,  return  to  the  love  of  God.  They  escape 
the  terrible  sentence  which  has  been  pronounced  in 
those  words  :  "  I  say  to  you  that  none  of  those  who 
have  been  invited,  and  who  have  not  wished  to  come, 
shall  taste  of  my  feast." 

Jesus  betakes  himself  to  Jerusalem  for  the  Feast  of 
the  Dedication.  Some  of  the  Pharisees  came  to  him 
and  counselled  him  to  flee,  as  Herod  was  determined 
to  take  his  life.  Our  Lord  knew  that  it  was  Herod 
himself  who  commissioned  those  officials.  He  replied 
to  them  :  "  Go  and  tell  that  fox,  behold  I  chase  out 
devils  and  that  I  heal  the  sick  ;  to-day,  to-morrow,  and 
the  third  day  all  will  be  consummated.  To-day, 
nevertheless,  I  must  travel  on,  and  to-morrow  and  the 
day  following  ;  for  it  is  not  proper  that  a  prophet 
should  be  killed  out  of  Jerusalem."  At  this  thought, 
more  touched  at  the  chastisement  that  awaited  guilty 
Jerusalem  than  at  his  own  punishment,  he  allows  his 
love  and  his  sorrow  to  speak:    "Jerusalem,  Jerusalem, 


The  Life  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ.  305 

you  who  put  to  death  the  prophets  and  stone  those 
who  are  sent  to  you,  how  often  have  I  desired  to  gath- 
er together  your  children,  as  the  hen  gathers  her 
young  brood  under  her  wings,  and  you  have  not 
wished  it  !  " 

The  Pharisees  of  Jerusalem,  resolved  to  get  rid  of 
him,  accost  him  in  the  Temple  with  one  of  those  cap- 
tious questions  by  which  they  meditated  taking  his 
life.  They  say  to  him  :  "  How  long  will  you  hold  us 
in  suspense?  If  you  be  the  Son  of  God,  tell  us 
boldly." 

What  they  demanded  they  knew  well,  and  Jesus 
for  a  long  while  had  satisfied  them  on  this  point;  but 
they  were  bent  on  ensnaring  him  in  his  words  and 
thereby  condemning  him.  Everybody  expected  a  tem- 
poral kingdom  of  Jesus  Christ.  Jesus,  by  saying,  "  I 
am  he  " — by  this  word  only  would  have  constituted 
himself  in  a  state  of  rebellion  against  the  Roman  na- 
tion. Yet  if  he  kept  silent,  impiety  could  take  advan- 
tage of  his  silence. 

The  question  of  the  Pharisees  might  indeed  em- 
barrass human  prudence  ;  they  had  not  reckoned  on  the 
divine  wisdom,  and  it  confounds  them.  Our  Lord  did 
not  wish  either  to  conquer  as  a  common  victor  or  per- 
ish as  a  seditious  citizen  ;  nor  did  he  wish  to  afford  any 
pretext  for  their  wicked  designs.  He  says  to  them  : 
"  I  speak  to  you,  and  you  do  not  believe  me.  The 
works  which  I  do  in  my  Father's  name  give  testimony 
of  me.     I  and  the  Father  are  one." 

On  hearing  these  words  they  took  up  stones  to 
stone  him.  They  understood,  but  their  avowal  was 
required,  so  that  the  word  which  they  endeavored  to 
draw  from  him  should  issue  from  their  own  mouths. 
He  continued  :  "  I    have  done   many  good   works  be- 


306  The  Life  of  out  Lord  yes  us  Chris/. 

fore  your  eyes  by  the  power  of  my  Father  ;  for  which 
of  those  works  do  you  stone  me  ?  "  The  Jews  replied  : 
"  It  is  not  for  any  good  work  that  we  stone  you,  but 
for  your  blasphemies  ;  because  you,  a  man,  make  your- 
self God." 

It  is  they  who  say  it,  confessing  with  the  same 
breath  the  object  for  which  they  interrogated  him. 
Jesus,  however,  without  departing  from  the  prudence 
which  it  pleased  him  to  use  towards  those  perfidious 
wretches,  confirms  what  they  had  understood:  "  Is  it  not 
written  in  your  law,  I  have  said,  you  arc  gods  ?  "  If, 
therefore,  the  Scriptures — which  cannot  be  destroyed — 
call  the  judges  of  Israel  gods,  why  do  you  say  to  him 
whom  the  Father  has  sanctified  and  sent  into  the 
world — why  do  you  say  to  him,  You  blaspheme,  be- 
cause he  has  said,  I  am  the  Son  of  God  ?  If  I  do  not 
the  works  of  my  Father,  believe  me  not  ;  but  if  I  do 
them,  even  if  you  do  not  wish  to  believe  my  word, 
believe  in  my  works,  and  know  and  believe  that  the 
Father  is  in  me,  and  that  I  am  in  him. 

The  Jews  did  not  undertake  to  reason.  They  sought 
to  lay  hands  on  Jesus  ;  but  he  escapes  them,  as  he  had 
already  done,  by  rendering  them  immovable  or  by  ren- 
dering himself  invisible,  and  he  departs  from  Jerusa- 
lem. 


L 


CHAPTER  III. 

THE  SHEEP — THE  DRACHMA — THE  PRODIGAL  SON. 

JESUS  came  from  beyond  the  Jordan  to  a  spot  where 
John  at  first  baptized,  and  he  dwelt  there.  His 
goodness  continued  to  attract  around  him  a  multitude 
of  publicans  and  sinners.  He  rejected  nobody,  and  he 
instructed  them.  The  Pharisees,  the  scribes,  and  the 
doctors,  always  the  same,  did  not  cease  to  blame  his 
condescension  towards  those  of  low  birth  and  public 
immorality.  "  See,"  said  they,  "this  man  receives  sin- 
ners, and  eats  with  them." 

Jesus  answers  by  a  parable  of  a  shepherd  who  leaves 
his  flock  of  an  hundred  sheep  to  find  out  only  one  lost 
sheep,  and  that  of  the  woman  who  rejoiced  at  finding 
her  lost  drachma.  He  said  to  the  Pharisees  that  the 
angels  of  God  in  heaven  rejoiced  more  at  the  conversion 
of  one  sinner  than  at  the  penance  of  ninety-nine  just. 
In  order  that  they  yet  might  take  a  higher  and  more 
just  idea  of  the  munificence  of  divine  mercy,  he  pro- 
poses to  them  the  parable  of  the  prodigal  son,  wherein 
the  heart  of  the  father  of  the  family  is  pictured  with 
traits  so  touching.  And  yet  we  know  this  does  not 
represent  the  entire  love  of  God  and  the  entire  love  of 
the  Saviour.  For  the  father  of  the  parable  awaited  his 
son  ;  he  looks  out   for  him  ;  but  God,  the  true  Father, 

calls,  moves,  the  sinner  plunged  in  his  crimes  ;  he  be- 

307 


308  The  Life  of  our  Lord  yesus  Christ. 

seeches,  implores,  him  to  return  ;  he  assures  him  of  his 
pardon  ;  he  goes  himself  to  find  him  out  And  to 
reach  the  ungrateful  sinner  through  what  roads  has  not 
Jesus  passed  ? 

These  three  parables  (so  to  speak)  make  but  one. 
The  Gospel  does  not  contain  a  more  touching  and 
affecting  lesson. 

The  hundred  sheep  of  the  first  parable  are  the  univer- 
sal domain  of  God.  The  hundred,  a  perfect  number,  re- 
presents all  creatures.  The  lost  sheep  is  the  human  race. 
The  Son  of  God,  the  good  Pastor,  leaves  the  faithful 
flock,  and  comes  on  earth.  Having  recovered  his  sheep, 
he  does  not  chastise  it  ;  he  does  not  lead  it  back  by 
rudely  hurrying  it  on  with  the  whip  of  hirelings  and 
with  the  teeth  of  dogs.  He  carries  it  on  his  shoulders. 
We  here  recognize  the  Samaritan.  Jesus  Christ  takes 
upon  himself  the  burden  of  our  humanity.  We  know 
what  is  this  weight,  what  are  the  ways  of  return  ;  but 
he  found  what  was  lost.  And  as  the  shepherd  calls 
his  friends  and  his  neighbors,  Jesus  Christ  invites  his 
saints  and  his  angels,  and  says  to  them  :  "  Rejoice  with 
me."  He  does  not  say,  "  Rejoice  with  the  sheep  that 
was  lost,"  remarks  St.  Ambrose,  but  "  Rejoice  with 
me."  Our  life  is  his  joy,  our  return  to  heaven  is  the 
fulness  of  his  happiness. 

The  parable  of  the  sheep  teaches  us  that  we  are  the 
creatures  of  God,  and  that  we  belong  to  him.  The 
parable  of  the  drachma  teaches  us  more  clearly  that  we 
are  made  to  his  image  and  likeness  ;  for  the  drachma,  a 
royal  coin,  bears  the  figure  of  the  king.  The  woman 
who  searches  for  her  lost  drachma  holds  a  lighted  lamp 
in  her  hand.  The  lighted  lamp  is  a  shining,  brilliant 
light  in  an  earthen  vessel.  Jesus  is  the  Divinity  in 
terrestrial     flesh  ;    the    woman    is    the  Church.      She 


The  Life  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ.  309 


holds  the  light  of  Christ  in  her  hand  ;   she  also  holds 
\  the  doctrine  of  truth.     By  the  eflfulgency  of  this  im- 

\  mortal  lamp,  by  the  strength  of  her  faith,  the  Church 

I  triumphs  over  darkness.    She  searches  without  ceasing; 

she  stirs  up  and  moves  about  the  refuse  of  humanity; 
she  purifies  it.  At  length  she  finds  the  lost  soul,  and 
her  joy  is  great,  and  all  those  who  love  her  rejoice 
with  her.  In  this  woman  who  "sweeps"  we  recognize 
again  him  of  whom  John  the  Baptist  has  said:  "He 
will  take  the  winnowing  fan,  and  he  will  make  clean  his 
thrashing-floor;  he  will  put  the  good  grain  in  his  gra- 
nary, and  he  will  cast  the  chaff  into  the  fire  which  will 
never  be  extinguished." 

The  same  sense  reappears  more  extensively  in  the 
parable  of  the  prodigal  son.  We  see  more  clearly  in  it 
the  fault  of  the  sinner  ;  by  it  we  are  far  better  moved 
by  the  mercy  of  God,  whose  object  the  sinner  is. 
There  is  in  it,  besides,  another  great  lesson  regarding 
the  Jews.  Their  obduracy  and  their  jealousy  arc 
vividly  depicted  ;  their  return  to  the  faith  is  again 
predicted. 

The  householder  has  two  sons,  who  represent  the 
two  peoples.  The  eldest  stays  in  his  paternal  man- 
sion; the  other  claims  his  patrimony.  He  receives  it 
and  goes  away.  The  Jew  retains  the  worship  of  God  ; 
the  Gentile  abandons  himself  to  the  worship  of  idols. 

This  son  has  received  his  fortune  :  reason,  free-will, 
the  riches  of  nature  and  of  the  earth,  and,  in  a  certain 
degree,  the  treasures  even  of  grace — that  is,  the  re- 
membrance of  the  primitive  revelation  and  the  promise 
of  the  Redeemer.  He  wanders  far  from  his  father, 
not  by  the  distance  of  space,  says  St.  Augustine — be- 
cause God  is  everywhere — but  by  alienation  of  the 
heart.     The   sinner  shuns  God   and   keeps  himself  far 


3IQ 


The  Life  of  our  Lord  yesits   Christ. 


away  from  him.  He  goes  off  and  squanders  all  the 
patrimony  that  had  been  apportioned  to  him.  De- 
bauchery devours  all.  In  this  estrangement  from  God 
wherein  he  is  plunged,  in  this  sea  of  the  world,  in  these 
grottos  of  the  siren,  he  abandons  his  soul  to  error,  his 
heart  to  its  passions.  He  destroys  the  faculties  of  the 
mind,  the  purity  of  the  soul,  the  just  discernment  be- 
tween good  and  evil.  Incredulity  surrounds  him, 
weakens  his  will,  smothers  his  reason,  and  leads  him 
to  idolatry.  He  leaves  his  father;  he  finishes  by  for- 
getting him.  This  is  the  climax  of  his  ruin.  When 
all  is  spent,  famine  supervenes.  There  is  no  more 
truth,  no  more  love  ;  there  is  famine  of  the  soul  and 
famine  of  the  heart. 

Then  he  engages  in  the  service  of  one  of  the  in- 
habitants of  the  country,  and  he  is  sent  out  into  the 
fields,  where  he  is  obliged  to  herd  swine.  By  the  work 
with  which  this  prodigal  son  was  charged  one  recog- 
nizes the  master  he  had  selected.  This  master  fed  him 
not,  or  the  nourishment  or  food  he  gave  him  did  not 
satisfy  him,  did  not  satiate  his  appetite.  The  water  he 
drank  quenched  not  his  thirst.  The  bread  he  ate 
satiated  not  his  craving  appetite.  "  And  he  desired 
exceedingly  to  fill  his  stomach  with  the  husks  that  the 
swine  did  eat,"  but  nobody  gave  him  any.  Those 
husks  with  which  the  master  of  the  prodigal  son  fed 
his  swine;  those  shells  of  food,  void  ofsubstance,  which 
fill  up  and  clog  the  body,  but  never  nourish  it — St. 
Augustine  well  remembers  having  eaten  of  those  husks. 
They  are  the  customs  of  the  age  and  its  high-sounding 
vanities;  gross,  swinish  sensualities,  and  festivities  in 
which  they  wallow  in  obsceneness  ;  pleasures  that,  ener- 
vate the  powers  of  the  soul.  But  the  prodigal  son  had 
not  even   these.      O    son   of  the   king  Î  you  have  de- 


The  Life  of  cur  Lord  y e  su  s  Christ.  311 

voted  yourself  to  herding  the  flock  of  Satan.  Satan 
will  not  even  give  you  the  food  of  his  swine.  Drive 
them  on,  feed  and  fatten  them,  play  with  them,  and 
live  in  their  filth  and  mire.  They  may  excite  your 
envy;  you  shall  not  taste  their  joys. 

This  is  the  last  shift  of  the  sinner,  the  last  grace  God 
will  send  him.  He  is  miserable.  In  the  excess  of  this 
misery  he  thinks  of  himself  ;  he  enters  into  himself;  he 
forms  the  resolution  to  go  back  to  his  father.  In  the 
depth  of  his  soul  he  feels  his  father  will  repudiate  him. 
Of  the  riches  he  took  away  nothing  remains  for  him 
save  that  instinct,  that  gnawing  worm — his  conscience  ; 
that  he  cannot  destroy  without  annihilating  his  very 
self.  As  soon  as  he  thinks  of  his  father  he  says  to 
himself  that  his  father  would  pardon  him.  In  order 
that  we  might  not  be  able  to  squander  even  this  part 
of  our  inheritance,  the  Father  does  not  put  it  into  our 
hands,  which  would  let  it  fall,  nor  has  he  written  it  on 
the  tablet  of  our  mind,  lest  it  might  be  effaced  ; 
but  he  engraves  it  on  the  innermost  recesses  of  the 
heart,  where  this  sacred  writing  resists  all  and  every- 
thing. The  world  recognizes  God  when  it  says  he  is 
good.  Despite  the  blindness  in  which  he  was  plunged, 
the  prodigal  son  instantly  knew  what  he  should  do.  -  ( 
"  I  will  arise,  I  will  go  to  my  father,  and  I  will  say  to 
him  :  My  father,  I  have  sinned.  I  am  not  worthy  to  be 
called  your  son  ;  treat  me  as  one  of  the  servants  who 
arc  in  your  household."  This  language  is  the  very  es- 
sence of  human  nature,  and  those  are  its  sentiments. 
It  is  thus  constituted  :  it  stands  in  need  of  purifying 
itself  by  the  confession  of  its  faults;  it  stands  in  need 
of  proclaiming  itself  unworthy,  such  as  it  knows  itself 
to  be — unworthy  not  by  origin,  since  it  calls  God  its 
Father,  but  by  its  fault  and  its  wicked  works  ;  it  stands 


The  Life  of  our  Lord  ffcsus  Christ. 


in  need  of  proclaiming  that  of  itself  it  cannot  raise  it- 
self, replace  itself  in  the  high  position  of  honor  and 
dignity  it  formerly  occupied. 

So  the  prodigal  son  rises  and  goes  to  seek  his  fa- 
ther. When  he  was  yet  afar  off  the  father  saw  him. 
He  did  not  wait  for  him  ;  he  did  not  wait  till  he  should 
speak  and  humble  himself;  he  runs  to  meet  him, 
throws  himself  on  his  neck,  and  embraces  and  kisses 
him.  Thus  God  is  revealed  in  him  who  has  appeared, 
says  St.  Paul,  as  the  love  and  goodness  of  God. 

He  runs,  says  St.  John  Chrysostom.  The  weight  of 
our  crimes  hinders  us  from  reaching  the  desired,  happy 
spot  ;  but  he,  being  able  and  willing  to  descend,  does 
descend,  and  before  we  can  say  a  word  he  kisses  our 
lips,  whence  the  confession  is  about  to  issue  which 
ascends  from  a  penitent  heart.  We  have  not  even 
articulated  the  confession  when  he  has  already  receiv- 
ed it.  He  hears  our  most  secret  thoughts,  says  St. 
Ambrose,  and,  even  when  we  are  a  long  distance  sepa- 
rated from  him,  he  runs  lest  some  enemy  might  stop 
and  seize  us.  He  runs  by  foreknowledge,  and  he  em 
braces  us  by  his  clemency.  By  the  outpourings  of  pa- 
ternal love  he  hastens  to  raise  up  that  which  was  fall- 
en ;  to  set  up  again  heavenwards  that  which  was  bent 
towards  the  earth.  But  what  is  this  arm  of  the  Father 
which  so  tenderly  entwines  itself  around  the  sinner? 
The  Father,  says  St.  Augustine,  has  not  withdrawn 
from  his  only  Son,  through  whom  he  has  made  this 
long  and  tedious  journey  in  search  of  the  lost  sheep. 
For  God  was  Christ  reconciling  himself  to  the  world. 
He  casts  himself  on  the  neck  of  the  sinner — that  is  to 
say,  he  lowers  towards  us  his  arm,  which  is  the  Lord 
Jesus  Christ  As  man  works  through  and  by  the  arm, 
God  works   through   Jesus  Christ,  and  that  is  why  the 


The  Life  of  our  Lord  yesus  Christ.  313 

Christ  is  called   the   power  of  God.     Isaias  has   said  : 
"To  whom  has  the  arm  of  the  Lord  been  revealed?" 

And  then  the  prodigal  son  makes  a  confession.     He 

1 

( 


says  :  "  My  father."   He  declares  he  has  sinned  ;  he  de- 
clares that  he  is  not  worthy  ;  but  he  does  not  add  what 


) 

he  had  proposed  to  himself  to  do:  "Make  me  one  of 

your  servants."  He  could  not  say  so  after  he  had  pro- 
nounced this  name  of  father,  in  the  face  of  his  father, 
and  after  his  father  had  embraced  him.     He  feels  he  is 

)  reinstated,  and  that  his  rank  of  son  is  restored  to  him  ; 

and  the  father  docs  not  blame  him,  does  not  recall  to  him 
that  course  of  crime,  of  shame,  and  of  sorrow.  That  is 
effaced,  blotted  out  ;  the  material  trace  of  it  must  disap- 
pear.     Hide  these  tattered  clothes  ;  give   him   his  first 

)  robe — his  robe  of  innocence.    Thus  do  I  restore  my  son 

to  his  former  purity.  Put  a  ring  on  his  finger — the 
mark  of  nuptials,  the  pledge  of  union  between  him  and 
God,  the  symbol  of  faith  which  will  shine  in  his  works. 
Put  shoes'on  his  feet,  that  his  feet  no  more  may  slip 
on  the  way,  and  may  no  more  touch  the  earth.  Kill 
the  fatted  calf,  and  let  us  cat  and  rejoice  ;  because  my 
son  was  dead,  and  now  he  is  alive  again.  The  fatted 
calf  was  the  victim  the  priest  offered  for  sins.  Here  it 
typifies  the  Eucharist — the  victim  which  is  destined  to 
feed  and  nourish  humanity  restored  in  this  son  who 
was  dead.  And  they  placed  themselves  at  table  and 
began  the  feast.  And  now,  says  St.  Augustine,  the 
feast  is  celebrated  throughout  the  entire  universe. 

Those  three   parables  must  have  enraged  those  who 
reproached  Jesus   for  having  paid  so  much  attention 


and  devotion    to  sinners.     The   episode   of  the  eldest 

son  awakened  their  murmurinsrs.  \ 

( 
This  eldest  son,  who  did  not  wish  to  enter  into  the 

house  because  the  return  of  his  brother  was  honored 


3i4 


T7ie  Life  of  our  Lord  yesus   Christ. 


by  a  grand  banquet,  and  who  resisted  even  the  en- 
treaties and  prayers  of  the  father  of  the  family,  is  the 
Jewish  people.  It  is  said  he  returned  from  the  fields. 
He  did  not  set  out  fora  far-off  country,  and  neverthe- 
less he  is  not  in  the  paternal  mansion.  He  is  in  the 
fields,  occupied  listlessly  in  manual  labor.  He  serves 
his  father,  but  he  does  not  love  him.  The  prodigal 
son,  thinking  on  his  father,  had  unbounded  confidence 
in  his  paternal  tenderness  and  kindness  of  heart  ;  he  is 
resolved  to  approach  humbly  and  penitentially.  The 
eldest  son  doubts  the  justice  of  the  father,  or  rather  de- 
nies it.  With  a  base  jealousy  he  waits  outside  ;  his 
doggedness  prevents  him  from  entering  the  house. 
His  father,  in  a  pathetic  and  loving  manner,  implored 
him  to  come  in  ;  but  he  refused.  We  see  every  day 
this  headstrong,  obdurate  son  ;  he  represents  those 
whom  the  Church  of  God  calls  daily  to  the  feast  of 
the  Lamb,  but  who  will  not  receive  the  food  of 
angels,  to  be  found  only  in  the  Catholic  and  Apostolic 
Church.  However,  the  Father  does  not  in  vain  go 
out  to  call  in  this  eldest  son.  He  will  use  tender  vio- 
lence to  this  rebellious  heart  ;  but  he  will  await  the 
proper  time,  when  the  fulness  of  the  nations  shall  have 
entered. 

Like  those  who  murmured  about  the  price  paid  the 
laborers  at  the  eleventh  hour,  this  eldest  son  also  re- 
presents those  faithful,  or  rather  exacting,  but  still  nar- 
row-minded zealots  who  live  uselessly  in  the  broad 
sphere  of  Christianity.  They  would  almost  dare  quar- 
rel with  God  for  affording  the  graces  of  conversion  to 
sinners  at  the  last  moment.  Because  they  look  on 
themselves  as  just,  and  in  fact  really  are  so  (they  have 
a  cold,  frozen  justice  which  of  itself  stands  in  great 
need  of  pardon),  they  would  willingly  expect  that  those 


The  Life  of  our  Lord  ycsus   Chris/.  3 1 5 

should  not  be  received  whose  sins  are  more  notable- 
But  God  hates  this  Phariseeism.  God  is  rejoiced  at 
the  conversion  of  sinners.  Let  them  take  care  that 
their  disrespect  for  the  sinner  and  their  spite  against 
the  mercy  of  God  may  not  prevent  themselves  from 
entering.  The  man  who  cries  out  from  a  bruised  and 
)  sorrowful  heart,  "  My  Father,"  and   gives  to  God    his 

'  true  name,  wishes  to   do   the  true   tiling   that  God    re- 

quires.  "  And  who,  then,  are  you,"  says  St.  Ambrose 
to  them,  "  to  exact  of  the  Lord  that  he  should  not  par- 
don ?  Let  us  applaud  and  praise  God  that  our  sins 
are  forgiven  through  penance,  lest  our  sins  should  not 
be  forgiven.    Let  us  not  repulse  those  who  return  from 

i  a  far-off  country  ;    for  we  ourselves  have  been  in  those 

)  1  »  > 

remote   regions,  and   it  is  by  God  s   overflowing  mercy 

we  were  brought  back." 

\  The   same  doctor   shows  that   those  three   parables 

\  agree  and  harmonize  with  each  other,  and  that  they  re  ( 

present  three  parts  of  one  great  whole.  They  contain 
the  essence  of  all  good.  He  saw  in  them  three  great 
consolations  afforded   to  our  misery;   three   consoling  ) 

motives  of  hope  in  the  abyss  of  our  sins;  a  triple  chain 
which    the   divine  mercy  casts  to   us  when    in  danger 

\  of    being    for    ever    engulfed    in    the    sea    of    eternal 

death.  The  father  is  God,  the  shepherd  is  Christ,  the 
woman  is  the  Church  filled  with  the  Holy  Ghost. 
Jesus  the  Saviour  is  everywhere.      He   seeks  after  our 

)  souls  as  the  humble  mother  ot  the  family  sought  after 

)  what  she  considered  most  precious.     He  leads  us  back 

)  L  I 

from  our  errors  and  wanderings,  and  watches  over  us  ( 

as  the  vigilant   shepherd,  and  he  welcomes  us  home  as 

a   tender    father.       We    are   his   sheep.     O   Pastor  !    O 


Good  Shepherd  !    lead   us,  conduct  us,  into  the  eternal 
pasturage.     We  are  the  drachma.      O  King  !    we  bear 


3 1 6  The  Life  of  our  Lord  yesus  Christ. 

engraved  on  our  souls  your  image  and  your  name; 
take  us  out  of  the  mire  and  restore  to  us  our  former 
beauty.  We  are  the  prodigal  son.  O  Father!  come 
to  us;  run.  Take  away  from  us  this  yoke  of  the  devil, 
that  hangs  so  heavily  on  us  ;  give  us  the  yoke  of  your 
love  ! 

The  divine  Master,  always  speaking  that  sweet  lan- 
guage of  the  parable,  gives  us  new  lessons  on  the  con- 
tempt of  riches.  He  also  wished  to  teach  men  the  way 
to  purify  riches  unjustly  acquired.  "  Nourish,  provide 
for  the  poor  with  them,"  said  he;  "by  alms  make 
friends  for  yourselves  in  heaven." 

The  rich  Pharisees,  both  proud  and  avaricious,  con- 
sidered that  the  wealth  they  possessed  was  but  a  just 
recompense  of  the  virtues  they  attributed  to  themselves. 
They  sneered  and  mocked  these  discourses.  Jesus  re- 
plies to  their  mockery  by  the  parable  of  the  poor  Laza- 
rus and  of  the  wicked  rich  man.  The  poor  Lazarus, 
covered  from  head  to  foot  with  ulcers,  implores  of  the 
rich  man  for  the  crumbs  that  fell  from  his  table,  and 
could  not  obtain  them.  He  dies  ;  the  angels  carry  him 
into  the  bosom  of  Abraham.  The  rich  miser  dies  in 
his  turn,  and  hell  is  his  tomb.  In  the  midst  of  those 
flames  he  cries  out  to  Abraham:  "Have  pity  on  me, 
and  send  Lazarus  here  to  dip  his  finger  in  water  to 
quench  my  burning  thirst."  Abraham  answered  this 
damned  soul  :  "  Between  Lazarus  and  you  justice  has 
placed  an  abyss  that  neither  you  nor  he  will  ever  be 


)  able  to  bridge  over." 


*-l  'J&aSOfia 

iïliÉlSE 

pi" 

Sr'J  "SHk  Se 

)  • 


CHAPTER   IV. 

THE   UN'JUST  JUDGE— PRAYER — MARRIAGE. 

THE  Pharisees  were  not  converted,  but  the  disciples 
were  instructed;  and  those  divine  lessons  dwelt 
in  their  memory,  to  be  transmitted  to  humanity  for 
unborn  generations. 

Jesus  spoke  to  them  again  of  perseverance  in  prayer. 
He  had  antecedently  taken  the  example  of  a  man  who 
rose  in  the  middle  of  the  night,  and  who  gave  what  he 
did  not  wish  to  give,  solely  to  rid  himself  of  the  impor- 
tunity of  him  who  ceased  not  to  knock  at  his  door. 
"If  man  does  this,"  added  he,  "what  will  not  your 
Father  do,  who  is  good  and  just  ?  " 

lie  repeats  this  lesson  by  another  representation: 
"  We  ought  always  to  pray  and  never  to  cease  praying. 
There  was  a  judge  who  did  not  fear  God  and  who  did 
not  care  for  men.  A  woman  came  to  him  and  said  to 
him,  Do  justice  to  me  on  my  side.  For  a  long  time  he 
refused  her  ;  but  at  last  he  said  within  himself  : 
Although  I  fear  not  God  nor  do  I  care  for  men,  never- 
theless, because  this  woman  urgently  solicits  me,  I 
will  render  her  justice,  lest  at  the  end  she  might  offer 
me  an  insult.  You  hear  what  the  unjust  judge  said. 
And  will  not  God  do  justice  to  his  elect  who  cry  to 
him  day  and   night,  and  will   he   not  have  patience  in 

317 


) 


The  Life  of  our  Lord  yesus  Christ. 

their,  regard  ?  I  say  to  you  he  will  quickly  avenge 
them." 

The  vengeance  of  the  just — that  which  he  has 
ordered  them  to  ask — is  their  deliverance  from  sin  and 
hell.  They  do  not  ask  to  be  avenged,  as  the  world 
understands  it  ;  and  as  it  is  forbidden  to  them  to 
avenge  themselves,  they  could   not  do  it  without  ceas-  ) 

ing  to  be  just.  They  ask  to  be  delivered,  not  from  the 
unjust  Judge,  but  from  his  iniquity.  They  ask  also  to 
be  delivered  from  the  temptations  of  the  enemy  within 
them  ;  especially  they  ask  to  be  delivered  from  the 
world.  God  hears  this  prayer,  and  in  a  short  while 
they  are  delivered.  Life  is  short  for  the  oppressed  as 
for  the  oppressors  ;  the  things  of  life  are  shorter  yet, 
and  God  disposes  of  them  in  such  a  way  that  they 
always  tend  to  justice.  In  the  end  the  just  are  always 
avenged,  even  under  the  yoke  of  iniquity,  when  God 
affords  them  that  patience  and  that  strength  by  which 
he  humbles  iniquity,  even  in  its  triumph  of  a  moment. 
The  prisoner  who  carries  away  with  him  justice  into 
his  dungeon,  full  of  serenity,  is  already  avenged  of  the 
judge.  The  martyr,  smiling  amid  tortures,  is  already 
avenged  of  the  executioners.  Whoever  accepts  op- 
pression rather  than  abandon  truth,  God  forthwith 
avenges  him,  filling  his  heart  with  the  gifts  of  truth, 
and  planting  like  iron  claws,  in  the  heart  which  prides 
itself  in  not  fearing  God  and  not  caring  for  man,  spite, 
and  shame,  and  barren  remorse.  The  world  has  always 
had  solemn  examples  of  this,  and  it  is  not  even  now 
deprived  of  it.  Everybody  can  see  where  iniquity  is 
triumphant  and  degraded  ;  where  justice  is  oppressed 
and  full  of  glory,  rejoicing  in  a  profound  peace,  already 
avenged. 

All  that  the  Saviour  said  and  did  bears  a  relation  in 


.J 


The  Life  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ.  319 

j 

some  way  to  his  Church.  We  find  the  type  of  the 
Church  in  that  widow  forced  to  plead  so  warmly  her  just  ( 

cause  before  an  unjust  judge. 

Until  the  coming  of  him  who  now  mysteriously  pro-  \ 

tects  her  the  Church  is  the  widow,  and  her  history  pre- 
sents to  us  the  continual  spectacle  of  that  justice,  so  long 
refused,  granted  with  difficulty  and  promptly  avenged. 

The  wretched  tortures  of  mind  that  vex  and  agitate 
the  unjust  judge,  and  at  last  compel  him  to  do  justice, 
all-powerful  and  perverse  as  he  is,  do  not  trouble  the 
mind  of  the  Church.  She  fears  God,  but  she  does  not  fear 
either  insults,  affronts,  or  persecutions.  She  importunes 
her  earthly  judge,  and  even  threatens  him  ;  she  implores 
her  heavenly  Judge,  and  she  well  knows  he  will  judge 


( 
( 

( 
( 
t 

justly.     She   bears   patiently;  she   is  cast   off,   loaded 

with  irons  ;  she  is  bound  hand  and  foot,  and  cast  into 

prison,  condemned  to  death  ;  but  she  sits  crowned  with 

( 

justice,  immortal  as  justice,  serene  as  truth  itself,  and 
as  tranquil  and  calm  as  immortality.  O  beauty  of  God 
on  earth  !  she  will  be  delivered  from  her  enemies,  and 
she  will  be  avenged.  ( 

But  why,  asks  St.  Augustine,  does  the  widow  say, 
"  Avenge  me  "  ?  Why  did  the  chosen  servants  of  God, 
even  the  martyrs,  speak  thus  in  the  Apocalypse  of  St. 
John  ?  We  are  not  expressly  commanded  to  pray  for 
our  enemies  and  our  persecutors.  By  this  vengear.ee 
of  the  ju.st  we  must  understand  that  they  demand  of 
God  the  destruction  of  the  reign  of  the  wicked,  whe- 
ther by  their  return  to  justice  and  truth  or  by  the 
chastisement  which  destroys  their  power.  Or  yet,  as  St. 
Cyril  expressed  it,  if  the  offence  is  personal  to  us,  it  is 
our  glory  to  forget  it  ;  but  if  the  injury  or  the  insult 
attacks  God   himself,  then  we  invoke  God  against  the 

)  enemies  of  his  <dorv  and  his  truth. 

)  &      ' 

) 


320  The  Life  of  our  Lord  j"es//s   Christ. 

Jesus  terminates  by  those  dreadful  words:  "When 
the  Son  of  Man  shall  come,  do  you  think  he  will  find 
faith  on  the  earth  ?  "  When  the  all-powerful  Creator 
will  appear  in  the  form  of  the  Son  of  Man,  so  rare  shall 
be  the  elect,  says  the  Venerable  Bede,  that  the  destruc- 
tion of  the  world  will  be  sudden — not  because  of  their 
supplications,  but  on  account  of  the  indifference  of 
others.  The  Lord  warns  us  for  all  time,  for  we  are 
ignorant  of  the  moment  ;  and  prayer  ceases  and  loses 
its  power  as  soon  as  faith  is  extinguished.  Let  us  be- 
lieve, then,  says  St.  Augustine,  in  order  to  pray,  and 
let  us  pray  in  order  to  believe.  Faith  produces  prayer, 
and  prayer  strengthens  faith.  This  is  the  teaching  of 
Christ,  outside  of  which,  teaching  which,  is  the  Catholic 
Church  ;  for  Christ  teaches  in  her  only.  All  knowledge 
is  vain  and  foolish  ;  without  faith  we  can  do  nothing, 
without  prayer  we  can  do  nothing.  Whoever  does  not 
desire  to  hear  this  truth  does  not  wish  that  Jesus  had 
come  into  this  world  for  him  ;  and  his  proud  forehead, 
that  refuses  the  light  of  God,  will  go  down  through  the 
mire  into  utter  darkness. 

But  prayer  can  become  barren,  fruitless.  Jesus  com- 
pletes those  lessons  by  a  parable  on  humility,  which  we 
ought  to  bring  with  us  to  prayer  :  "  Two  men  went  up 
to  the  Temple  to  pray.  The  one  was  a  Pharisee,  who, 
standing  up,  prayed  thus  with  himself:  My  God,  I  give 
thee  thanks  that  I  am  not  as  the  rest  of  men,  who  are 
robbers,  unjust,  adulterers,  nor  such  as  this  publican  ; 
I  fast  twice  a  week  ;  I  give  the  tenth  part  of  what  I 
possess  to  the  poor.  And  the  publican,  standing  afar 
off,  did  not  dare  even  to  raise  his  eyes  to  heaven,  but 
struck  his  breast,  saying,  My  God,  have  pity  on  me,  for 
I  am  a  sinner.  And  I  declare  to  you  the  latter  went 
away  justified,  and  not  the  former." 


The  Life  of  our  Lord  j'<  sus  Christ.  3  2 1 

Pride  is  the  passion  which  torments  most  the  heart 


of  man,  and  that  is  why  Jesus  reverts  to  it  so  often. 

{  r  ( 

The  Pharisee  affords  a  living  image  of  it.  He  prays, 
but  his  prayer  carries  with  it  the  character  of  pride, 
which  is  abominable  to  God.  He  denies  God  in  at- 
tributing to  himself  his  justice,  and  this  haughty,  proud 
justice  is  the  ruin  of  this  soul.  He  prays  standing  up 
— proud  even  in  attitude,  proud  in  himself;  for  he  ad- 
dresses himself  to  himself.  He  employs  the  formality, 
1  "  My  God,  I  give  you  thanks  "  ;  but  it  is  to  himself  only 

I  he  renders  thanks  for  the  merits  he  acknowledges,  and 

he  does  not  wish  to  give  thanks  to  anybody  else  for 
them  ;  he  asks  for  nothing.  Thus  }'ou  are  perfect, 
says  St.  Augustine  ;  you  have  everything  in  abundance, 
and  you  need  not  say,  "  Forgive  us  our  trespasses."  Fol- 
low with  attention  his  prayer  :  "  I  am  not  like  other 
men  "  ;  if.  at  least,  he  had  said,  I  am  not  like  a  great  num- 
ber of  other  men.  No  ;  he  is  the  only  one  of  his  species. 
I  myself  am  just  ;  the  others — all  the  others — arc  sin- 
ners. "  Neither  am  I  like  this  publican."  The  publican 
is  like  the  others  ;  he  is  a  robber,  unjust,  an  adulterer. 
The  Pharisee  despises  the  whole  human  race,  and  he 
causes  the  weight  of  his  contempt  to  fall  on  that 
brother  whom  he  saw  humbled  before  God.  He  de- 
clares the  summary  of  his  good  works,  and  behold  his 
prayer.  Let  him  boast  as  he  will,  says  St.  Gregory  ; 
through  pride  he  opens  the  city  of  his  heart  to  his 
enemies  who  besiege  it. 

In  vain  has  he  shut  it  by  fasting  and  prayer  ;  there 
is  a  place  open,  and  the  enemy  enters.  "  I  am  not  as- 
tonished," St.  Augustine  remarks,  "  that  God  pardoned 
the  publican,  who  judges  himself.  He  stands  afar  off; 
yet  he  draws  near  by  contrition,  and  the  Lord  is  atten- 
tive to  his  humble  and  contrite  heart."     "  The   Most 


322  The  Life  of  our  Lord  yesus  Christ. 

High  humbles  himself  towards  the  humble."  He  does 
not  look  nor  stare  around,  and  it  is  thus  he  merits  to 
be  looked  upon  and  considered.  His  conscience  bends 
him  down  ;  his  hope  raises  him  up.  He  strikes  his 
breast,  as  it  were  to  punish  his  heart  for  its  wicked 
thoughts,  and  he  arouses  it  from  its  slumber.  He  con- 
fesses his  sins,  and  the  Lord  will  grant  him  pardon. 
You  have  heard  the  proud  accuser,  and  you  have  heard 
the  humble  guilty.  Listen  to  the  judge  :  "  I  declare 
to  you  the  publican  went  away  justified,  but  not  so  the 
Pharisee  ;  for  whosoever  exalts  himself  shall  be  hum- 
bled, and  whosoever  humbles  himself  shall  be  exalted." 
St.  Chrysostom,  instructing  his  people,  develops 
this  lesson  under  an  image  quite  Byzantine.  "  You 
see,"  says  he,  "  two  chariots  in  an  arena;  the  one  car- 
ries justice  united  to  pride,  the  other  sin  with  humility. 
The  chariot  of  sin  outruns  that  of  justice — not  by  its 
own  strength,  but  by  the  virtue  of  humility  ;  the  other  is 
conquered — not  by  the  fault  of  justice,  but  because  of  the 
weight  of  pride.  The  excellence  of  humility  triumphs 
over  the  weight  of  sin,  and  dashes  forth  and  reaches 
God  ;  the  weight  of  pride  fetters  justice.  Should  you 
have  done  a  multitude  of  virtuous  works,  if  you  pre- 
sume on  yourself,  you  have  lost  all  the  fruit  of  them. 
Should  you  have  been  loaded  with  the  weight  of  a 
thousand  crimes,  if  you  esteem  yourself  guilty,  take 
confidence  ;  God  will  not  reject  an  humble  and  contrite 
heart.  But  since  humility  united  to  sin  is  yet  fleet 
enough  to  pass  by  and  keep  ahead  of  justice  united  to 
pride,  what  would  not  be  the  course  of  humility  if  it  is 
united  to  justice?  On  the  other  hand,  if  pride  can 
degrade  and  fetter  even  justice,  into  what  a  horrible 
abyss  will  it  not  drag  us  united  with  sin  !  Therefore 
neglect  not  justice,  but  avoid  pride." 


The  Life  of  our  Lord  jfcsus  Christ.  323 

( 
To  understand  the  Gospel  we  must  cast  a  look  on 
the  world  and  examine  ourselves.  We  instantly  per- 
ceive how  a  vast  multitude  of  people  were  fed  and 
lived  on  the  manna  ;  how  every  soul  was  enlightened 
by  it.  Then  we  ascend  up  to  the  Source  of  the  flood 
of  life  and  light.  Who  has  been  capable  so  perfectly 
to  reveal  God  to  man,  and  to  put  them  in  close  prox- 
imity, and  to  find  even  in  the  misery  of  man  the  means 
of  approximating  him  to  God  ?  Who  could  bring  it 
about  that  sin  itself,  by  the  humility  it  ought  to  and 
must  produce,  should  become  a  means  of  salvation  ? 
Considering  that  the  fall  was  the  motive  power  of  the 
redemption,  and  that  the  redemption  could  not  be 
accomplished  but  by  the  Incarnation,  the  Church  has 
the  right  and  power  to  sing,  Felix  culpa.  Considering 
how  pride  constantly  draws  us  further  from  God,  the  ( 

Christian  will  be  tempted  to  exclaim  :  Oh  !  happy  for 
us  that  there  is  sin.  St.  Paul  gloried  in  his  infirmities. 
He  acknowledged  that  the  temptation  which  assaulted 
and  buffeted  him  as  an  angel  of  Satan  was  necessary 
for  him  to  escape  pride  ;  for  it  is  not  possible,  says  a 
commentary,  attributed  to  St.  Ambrose,  that  the  heart 
of  a  man  which  has  seen  things  so  grand  and  magnifi- 
cent should  not  be  puffed  up  with  pride,  had  it  not 
been  humbled  and  bowed  down  by  the  weight  of 
human  miser\'.  Thus  sin  serves  at  least  to  block  up 
the  road  of  pride.  We  escape  the  abyss  because  we  fall 
and  stumble  on  the  way.  This  profound  knowledge 
of  man's  misery  and  degradation  and  of  God's  clem- 
ency shines  forth  all  through  the  parables,  and  at  the 
same  time  their  simplicity  makes  them  accessible  to 
every  understanding.  It  is  milk  for  children,  and  at 
the  same  time  bread  for  the  strong,  says  Bossuet.  By 
these  parables  we  behold  Jesus  full  of  God's  secrets. 


324  The  Life  of  our  Lord  yesus  Christ. 

But  we  behold  that  he  is  not  astonished  at  them  ;  he 
speaks  naturally  of  them,  as  being  born  in  this  secret 
and  in  this  glory. 

Among  Christ's  various  instructions  there  is  one  in 
reply  to  the  Pharisees  on  the  indissolubility  of  the 
conjugal  or  marriage  tie. 

Whilst  he  was  curing  the  sick  and  teaching  in  that 
part  of  Judea  beyond  the  Jordan  the  Pharisees  also 
came  to  find  him  out  and  to  tempt  him.  "  Is  it  per- 
mitted," said  they  to  him,  "  for  a  man  to  put  away  his 
wife  for  any  cause  whatever  ?" 

This  question  was  well  concocted,  like  those  they 
commonly  addressed  to  him,  in  such  a  way  that  he 
might  not  be  able  to  solve  it  without  furnishing  against 
himself  some  theme  for  accusation,  or  without  dis- 
pleasing many  persons.  If  he  should  reply  that  the 
woman  ought  to  be  put  away  for  any  cause  whatever 
it  might  be  that  he  would  declare  himself  against  the 
severity  of  his  own  doctrine,  already  known.     If  he  laid  ? 

down   conditions    for  the   divorce,  they  would  accuse  / 

him  of  condemning  the  law  of  Moses.  \ 

Jesus,  interrogating  them  in  his  turn,  says  to  them  :  \ 

"  What  has  Moses  commanded  you?"    "  Moses,"  they  \ 

replied,  "  has  commanded  a  man  to  give  a  bill  of  divorce  i 

and  put  away  his  wife."  "  Yes,  on  account  of  the  hard- 
ness of  your  hearts,"  replied  Jesus.  "  Have  you  not*  read 
that  he  who  made  man  at  the  beginning  created  man 
and  woman,  and  that  he  said  :  It  is  on  that  account 
man  shall  leave  his  father  and  his  mother,  and  that  he 
shall  cling  to  his  wife,  and  that  they  shall  be  two  in  I 

one  flesh?  Let  man,  therefore,  not  separate  what  God 
has  joined  together."  "  Then,"  the  Pharisees  again 
replied,  "  how  comes  it  that  Moses  has  commanded 
that  the  husband  should  give  a  bill  of  divorce  to  the 


The  Life  of  our  Lord  yesus  Christ.  325 

wife,  and  that  he  could  put  her  away  ?  "  Jesus  replied 
to  them  :  "  On  account  of  the  hardness  of  your  hearts 
Moses  has  permitted  you  to  put  away  your  wives  ;  but 
it  was  .not  so  from  the  beginning.  But  I  say  to  you 
that  he  who  will  put  away  his  wife  (except  it  be  for 
fornication)  and  espouse  another,  becomes  himself  an 
adulterer;  and  whosoever  will  marry  her  who  shall  have 
been  put  away  will  be  guilty  of  adultery  also." 

Behold,  in  a  few  words,  the  abolition  of  open  poly- 
gamy, the  condemnation  of  divorce,  which  is  nothing 
else  but  disguised  polygamy,  in  the  establishment  of 
Christian  marriage.  This  is  the  grandest  revolution, 
or,  to  speak  better,  the  grandest  social  counter-revolu- 
tion, which  has  been  made  in  the  world.  The  short 
dialogue  which  precedes  not  only  gives  us  the  law,  but 
what  we  can  call  the  exposé  of  the  motives  and  histo- 
rical and  moral  discussion  of  this  great  act  of  universal 
legislation.  For  nearly  a  century  the  civilized  world 
has  been  but  a  store-house  of  legislation.  Every 
people  would  fain  make  laws,  and  every  individual 
considers  himself  qualified  to  understand  them  ;  so 
every  one  knows  what  results  from  them,  both  for  the 
peoples  and  the  individuals,  and  how  long  those  laws 
will  endure.      Let  us  see  the  Son  of  God  at  this  work. 

The  Jews  thought  of  nothing  else  but  to  entrap  him  ; 
and  it  concerned  most  of  them  little  to  know  if  it  was 
permitted  to  send  away  a  wife  for  whatever  cause  it 
might  be — that  is  to  say,  without  any  cause.  They 
made  use  of  it,  convinced  that  Moses  had  commanded 
it  ;  and  every  other  decision  would  be  very  unpopular, 
especially  coming  from  Jesus,  against  whom  adversaries 
the  most  opposed  to  each  other  were  easily  made  of 
one  mind.  Jesus  at  first  places  them  in  the  presence 
of  Moses,  whom  they  do  an  injustice  to,  and  whom  he 


326 


The  Life  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ. 


wishes  to  justify.  "  What  is  the  commandment  of 
Moses?"  They  reply  that  Moses  had  commanded  to 
give  a  bill  of  divorce,  and  so  put  away  the  wife.  He 
has  permitted  it  to  you  "  because  of  the  hardness  of 
your  hearts." 

In  reality  the  bill  or  letter  of  divorce  had  been  im- 
posed as  an  obstacle  to  separation,  which,  by  conse- 
quence of  the  corruption  of  morals,  was  accomplished 
without  formalities.  The  scribes  only  could  write  a 
bill  of  divorce.  They  were  grave  and  solid  men.  This 
charge  invested  them  with  the  right  of  proper  counsel 
to  procure  the  reconciliation  of  man  and  wife.  When 
their  intervention  failed,  it  was  considered  better  to 
grant  a  bill  of  divorce,  because  otherwise  the  indis- 
solubility of  marriage  might  be  broken  by  the  crime 
of  murder.  Christianity  must  preside  over  the  mar- 
riage life.  Hardness  of  their  hearts — such,  therefore, 
was  Moses'  reason.  It  justified  him,  but  it  justified 
him  only. 

Having  established  this  point,  Jesus  goes  back  to 
the  primitive  law.  He  does  not  consider  it  unworthy 
of  himself  to  speak  artfully.  To  avoid  wounding  the 
feelings  of  the  Jews  he  does  not  tell  them  all  at  once, 
"  It  is  not  permitted,"  as  a  decision  that  he  gives  them 
of  himself;  he  shows  them  what  is  the  will  of  God  : 
"  Have  you  not  read  that  he  who  made  man  at  the  be- 
ginning made  him  man  and  woman  ?  " — one  man  and 
one  woman,  not  one  man  and  many  women  ;  so  that 
there  could  be  but  one  marriage,  and  there  could  not 
be  many  marriages.  And  the  first  woman  was  taken 
from  the  body  of  the  first  man,  so  that,  submitted  to  a 
certain  dependence,  she  must  not  nevertheless  be  de- 
spised nor  looked  upon  by  the  man  as  a  being  inferior 
and  different  to  himself.     The  man  and  the  woman  are 


The  Life  of  our  Lord  yesus  Chris/.  327 

made  of  the  very  same  substance,  so  as  to  be  one. 
They  are  not  taken  simply  from  the  same  womb, 
so  that  they  may  consider  themselves  free  either  to 
marry  or  remain  virgin.  United,  they  must  never  be 
separated.  "  A  man  will  leave  his  father  and  his  mo- 
ther, and  will  cling  to  his  wife  ;  and  they  shall  be  two 
in  one  only  flesh" — to  his  wife,  not  to  his  wives; 
two  in  one  only  flesh,  not  three  or  four.  And  in  or- 
der that  they  may  be  two  in  one  only  flesh,  the  man 
shall  leave  his  father  and  his  mother. 

It  would  seem  at  first  there  should  be  more  union  be- 
tween brothers  and  sisters,  who  issue  from  the  same  pa- 
rents, than  between  husband  and  wife,  who  spring  from 
different  stock.  The  principal  force  of  marriage 
comes  from  the  law  of  God,  more  powerful  than  the 
law  of  nature.  The  commands  of  God  are  not  subject 
to  nature,  whereas  nature  obeys  the  commands  of  God. 
Brothers  issue  from  the  same  source,  and  they  branch 
off  in  different  routes;  they  take  different  ways  on  the 
great  field  of  the  world.  Man  and  wife  are  born  of  dif- 
ferent parents,  and  unite  in  the  same  destiny.  Re- 
mark, says  St.  John  Chrysostom,  that  pure  love  rises 
up  in  man  as  the  sap  ascends  up  in  the  tree.  The  sap 
sets  out  from  the  roots,  and  gradually  ascends  till  it 
reaches  the  top,  converting  itself  into  rich  and  luscious 
fruit.  The  parents  love,  and  are  not  equally  loved  by 
their  children.  Man  does  not  bestow  the  ardor  of  his 
tenderness  on  his  parents,  but  on  the  children  he  be- 
)  gets.      "  Man  will  quit  his  father  and  his  mother,  and 

he  will  cleave  to  his  wife,  and  they  will  be  two  in  one 
flesh."  Nothing  could  express  more  forcibly  the  in- 
divisibility or  the  indissolubility  of  the  marriage-tie. 
This  is,  says  St.  Remigius,  the  mystery  which  is  in 
Christ  and  his  Church.     Indeed,  the  Lord   Jesus  aban- 


328 


The  Life  of  oar  Lord  Jesus  Christ. 


doned,  in  a  certain  sense,  his  Father  when  he  descend- 
ed on  the  earth.  He  abandoned  his  mother — that  is, 
the  synagogue — on  account  of  her  infidelity,  and  he  ad- 
hered to  his  spouse,  the  holy  Catholic  Church,  and 
they  are  two  in  one  flesh  ;  for  Christ  and  the  Church 
form  but  one  body. 

After  having  related  the  text  and  the  spirit  of  the 
old  law,  replies  St.  John  Chrysostom,  Jesus  gives  his 
own  interpretation  :  "  So  they  are  no  longer  two,  but 
one  flesh."  Thus  those  who  spiritually  love  one  an- 
other are  considered  but  of  one  soul  and  one  heart  ;  so 
the  man  and  wife  instantly  united  are  acknowledged 
but  one  flesh.  But  as  it  is  horrible  to  tear  asunder 
the  body  of  Christ,  so  is  it  horrible  to  separate  a  wife 
from  her  husband.  Such  an  act  would  be  an  abomi- 
nable stain  on  human  society.  God,  in  his  indignation, 
rises  up  against  it  and  says:  "  What  God  has  joined 
let  no  man  dare  separate."  The  man  who  puts  away 
his  wife  has  no  regard  either  for  the  law  of  nature  or 
for  the  law  of  God  ;  he  tramples  on  nature,  because  he 
divides  one  flesh  ;  he  violates  the  law,  because  he 
breaks  the  union,  which  God  has  made,  and  which  lie 
has  forbidden  to  be  broken.  "  At  the  beginning  it  was 
not  so."  Moses  did  not  command  a  divorce.  He  per- 
mitted it.  What  one  commands  he  wills  ;  what  one 
permits  is  dragged  from  him  by  a  wicked  will  that  he 
cannot  curb.  Moses  preferred  divorce  to  murder.  Be- 
cause of  the  obduracy  of  your  heart  Moses  has  per- 
mitted this  laxity  of  the  divine  law.  On  account  of  your 
hardness  "  Moses  permitted  this,"  not  God.  You  have 
the  law  of  a  man  for  it,  but  not  the  law  of  God  ;  be- 
cause God  cannot  contradict  himself  on  this  point  by 
establishing  a  principle  and  destroying  it  by  a  new 
commandment. 


The  Life  of  our  Lord  j'esus  Christ. 


329 


In  the  course  of  this  historic  and  dogmatic  discussion 
Jesus  expresses  with  authority  the  entire,  definite  law: 
■'  I  declare  to  you  that  whosoever  quits  his  wife,  unless 
it  be  for  a  case  of  adultery,  and  espouses  another,  com- 
mits adultery  ;  and  he  who  marries  her  whom  the  hus- 
band has  put  away  commits  also  an  adultery." 

By  this  clause  of  adultery  Jesus  does  not  throw  open 
the  door  to  divorce.  In  the  law  of  Moses  adulter)'  was 
not  a  cause  of  divorce,  but  a  cause  of  death.  It  was 
forbidden  to  retain  the  adulterous  wife".  The  Gospel 
imposes  on  her  a  penitential  course  of  life,  which  raises 
her  up  from  her  fallen  state,  and  pardon  follows.  After 
the  purification  or  reconciliation  of  an  adulteress,  says 
St.  Augustine,  the  husband  must  not  present  obstacles 
nor  the  reconciliation  be  regarded  as  shameful;  there 
is  where  we  believe  in  the  remission  of  sins  by  the 
power  of  the  keys  of  the  kingdom  of  heaven.  We  do 
not  call  her  any  more  an  adulteress  who  has  been  recon- 
ciled to  the  Church  remarried  to  Christ. 

Adultery  is  a  cause  of  separation,  but  not  of  divorce 
and  rupture.  Marriage,  constituted  by  the  mutual 
consent  of  the  parties,  is  not  destroyed  by  the  separa- 
tion of  the  bodies,  but  by  the  separation  of  the  will. 
The  married  couple,  lawfully  separated,  nevertheless 
remain  husband  and  wife.  This  is  why  the  Lord  did 
not  say,  "  Me  who  sends  away  his  wife  is  an  adulterer," 
but,  "  He  who  takes  another  in  her  place,"  because  such 
a  one  divorces  the  will. 

Let  us  sum  up.  There  is  but  one  carnal  reason  that 
can  legitimize  the  separation  of  husband  and  wife — 
that  is,  adulter}-;  and  there  is  only  one  spiritual  reason 
— that  is,  mutual  consent  for  the  love  and  service  of  God. 
There  is  no  reason  which  permits  one  to  contract  a 
second  marriage,  unless  death  has  broken  the  first. 


33° 


The  Life  of  our  Lord  jfesus  Christ. 


By  this  law  Jesus  re-established  marriage  in  the  pu- 
rity of  its  first  institution,  on  the  model  God  had  pro- 
posed. He  delivered  the  wife  from  her  long  ignominy. 
He  gave  to  the  married  couple  the  glory  of  conjugal 
chastity  ;  to  their  children  the  security  of  domestic 
happiness  ;  to  the  entire  human  race  a  purer  origin 
and  the  honor  and  peace  of  a  better  life.  In  speaking 
of  those  sublime  things  one's  mind  is  disturbed  by  the 
clamors  and  derisions  of  a  dissolute  horde  who  experi- 
ence no  longer  any  pure,  unalloyed  joy  in  the  world, 
and  who  impute  to  the  Gospel  the  vile  sufferings  they 
endure  for  having  despised  it.  This  scum  of  im- 
pure and  adulterous  men  ought  to  be  passed  by;  it 
has  no  longer  any  rights  to  claim,  but  legitimate  ex- 
amples to  furnish.  Woe  to  the  people  who  listen  to 
the  talk  of  dissolute  women,  and  of  fathers  who  do  not 
rear  up  their  own  children  !  Shame  and  ruin  attend 
every  society  foolish  enough  to  receive  its  rule  from 
those  hands  burning  to  tear  to  pieces  the  laws  of  God. 
When  one  wishes  to  judge  correctly  the  institutions  of 
a  people,  it  is  not  the  outlawed  and  perverted  we  are 
to  interrogate  ;  we  must  look  into  the  very  heart  of 
that  people,  and  see  what  fruits  those  accepted  and 
obeyed  institutions  have  produced  in  it.  By  Christian 
marriage  man  has  become  a  son,  he  has  become  a  hus- 
band, he  has  become  a  father;  of  these  three  things  he 
had  really  only  the  name.  Woman  has  become  virgin, 
wife,  mother — three  dignities  which  were  unknown  to 
her.  Christian  marriage  has  created  the  family,  and  the 
family  has  put  the  human  race  in  a  general  condition  of 
honor  and  happiness  which  was  not  given  to  paganism 
to  dream  of,  and  yet  less  to  comprehend. 

But  the  corruption  and  the  error  of  the  world  were 
so  deeply  rooted  in  the  human  heart  that  the  disciples 


The  Life  of  our  Lord  yesus  Christ. 


33* 


themselves  were  frightened  at  this  noble  law.  When 
they  were  alone  with  Jesus,  they  naively  expressed 
their  thoughts  to  him.  "  If  such  be,"  they  say  to  him, 
"the  condition  of  a  man  in  regard  to  his  wife  (that  he 
may  not  send  her  away),  it  is  not  good  to  marry."  Jesus 
answers  them  :  "  All  are  not  capable  of  such  resolution 
but  those  to  whom  it  has  been  given  " — that  is  to  say, 
those  who  by  the  grace  of  God  seek  and  implore  to  be 
continent,  so  as  to  gain  heaven.  This  word  has  created 
angelic  legions  who  have  preferred  virginity  to  mar- 
riage. 


CHAPTER  V. 


VOLUNTARY   POVERTY— LITTLE   CHILDREN. 


A  CIRCUMSTANCE,  guided  and  arranged  by  God, 
causes  the  disciples  to  comprehend  the  happiness 
and  reward  of  voluntary  poverty.  There  comes  a 
young  man  of  the  nobility  of  the  country,  who,  bend- 
ing the  knee  before  Jesus,  asks  him  what  he  should 
do  to  obtain  eternal  life.  Jesus  says  to  him  :  "  Keep 
the  commandments."  "Which  commandments?" 
asks  the  young  man.  Jesus  replies:  "You  know 
them:  you  shall  not  commit  murder;  j'ou  shall  not 
commit  adultery;  you  shall  not  steal;  you  shall  not 
bear  false  witness;  you  shall  not  deceive  any  one;  you 
shall  honor  your  father  and  your  mother  ;  you  shall 
love  your  neighbor  as  yourself."  The  young  man  says: 
"  I  have  observed  all  these  precepts  from  my  youth. 
What  yet  more  do  I  require  ?  "  Jesus  loved  his  sincer- 
ity and  his  innocence.  He  says  to  him:  "There  is 
one  thing  yet  you  must  do,  if  you  wish  to  be  perfect  : 
go,  sell  what  you  possess,  and  give  it  to  the  poor,  and 
you  will  have  a  treasure  in  heaven  ;  then  come  and  fol- 
low me."  But  the  young  man  went  away  quite  sad, 
because  he  possessed  great  wealth.  And  Jesus,  casting 
his  eyes  around,  said  to  his  disciples  that  "  it  is  diffi- 
cult for  those  having  riches  to  enter  the  kingdom  of 
God."     As  the  disciples  manifested  their  astonishment 

332 


2  he  Life  of  our  Lord  j^esus  Christ. 


at  these  words,  Jesus  repeated  :  "  My  little  children, 
how  difficult  it  is  for  those  confiding  in  their  riches  to 
enter  the  kingdom  of  God  !  It  is  easier  for  a  camel  to 
pass  through  the  eye  of  a  needle  than  for  a  rich  man 
to  enter  the  kingdom  of  God."  The  disciples  said  the 
one  to  the  other  :  "  Who,  then,  can  be  saved  ?  "  Jesus 
tells  them  "  that  is  impossible  to  men,  but  all  things 
are  possible  to  God." 

Peter  asks  the  Lord  what  shall  be  the  recompense 
of  the  apostles,  who  have  left  all  to  follow  him.  He 
answers  him  that  on  the  triumphal  day  of  the  Son 
of  Man  those  who  will  have  followed  him  shall  be  with 
him  the  judges  of  the  world.  For  whosoever  shall 
have  quitted  for  his  sake  and  for  the  Gospel  his  house, 
or  his  brothers  or  his  sisters,  or  his  father  or  his  mo- 
ther, or  his  wife  or  his  children,  or  his  inheritance, 
shall  receive  a  hundredfold  in  the  full  joy  of  eternal 
life.  But  to  keep  them  in  a  salutary  fear  whilst  he 
announced  to  them  the  new  order  that  the  justice  of 
God  would  establish  on  the  day  of  retribution,  he 
adds  that  then  many  that  are  first  will  be  •  last, 
and  many  that  are  last  first.  And  so  that  they  might 
know  the  independence  of  God  in  the  distribution 
of  his  graces,  he  proposed  to  them  the  parable  of  the 
workers  in  the  vineyard,  where  those  at  the  last  hour 
received  the  same  recompense  as  those  who  had  labor- 
ed from  the  first  dawn  of  the  day. 

Thus  he  spoke  to  them  and  instructed  them,  travel- 
ling slowly  to  Jerusalem,  not  wishing  to  arrive  there 
before  the  beginning  of  the  festival  of  the  Passover. 
On  his  way  he  healed  the  sick,  always  with  that  same 
gentleness  and  that  same  dignity  which  equally  formed 
the  character  of  his  word  and  of  his  works  ;  always  the 
humblest   of  mortals,    always  quite   resplendent   with 


334  The  Life  of  our  Lord  jfesus  Christ. 

the  Divinity.  Nobody  had  spoken  like  him,  and  he 
spoke  as  no  one  had  a  right  to  speak.     One  day,  ad-  ? 

dressing  the  multitude,  he  pronounced  these  words, 
which  the  mind  alone  of  man  could  not  have  been  able  [ 

to  dictate  nor  to  comprehend  :  "  If  any  one  wishes  to 
come  to  me,  and  does  not  hate  his  father  and  his  mo-  ) 

ther,  his  wife,  his  children,  his  brothers,  his  sisters,  and  ) 

even  his  own  life,  and  does  not  carry  his  cross,  that 
person    cannot    be    my    disciple."     One  feels   that   he  [ 

had  in  his  hand  heaven,  the  earth,  and  the  heart  of 
humanity.  <, 

We  heard  him  a  while  ago  addressing  himself  to  his 
disciples,  calling  them  "  my  little  children."  This 
word,  so   tender,   which   is  often   repeated   in   his  dis-  ( 

courses,  is  doubly  their  glory,  because  it  shows  the 
affection  he  bears  to  them  and  the  quality  that  he 
loves  in  them.  The  sense  of  this  tender  expression  is 
revealed  by  one  of  those  acts  wherein  his  heart  is  also 
revealed.  ) 

It  was  the  custom  to  bring  little  children,  that  he 
might  bless  them.  Once  the  disciples  wished  to  put 
them  aside,  fearing  that  this  throng  might  weary  and  \ 

annoy  him.     In   the   mystic  sense   the   disciples  typi- 
fied the  Jews,  jealous  of  the  vocation  of  the  Gentiles.  ) 
Jesus  said   to  them  :  "  Let  little  children  come  to  me, 
for  theirs  is  the  kingdom  of  God  ;    truly,  unless  you 
become  as  little  children,  you  shall  not  enter  into  the             ) 
kingdom  of  heaven." 

It  is  not  that  one  age  may  be  preferred  to  another; 
for  then  it  would  be  grievous  to  advance  in  life.  It 
is  innocence  that  is  preferred  above  all.  The  king- 
dom of  God  is  open  to  those  who  resemble  little  chil- 
dren ;  to  those  who  preserve  or  regain  that  innocence 
which  nature  has  given  them.      The  child  is  without 


The  Life  of  our  Lord  jfesus  Christ. 


335 


hatred  ;  it  ignores  pomp  and  display  ;  it  seeks  not 
after  honors  and  riches  ;  it  returns  to  its  mother, 
who  has  corrected  it  ;  it  is  docile  to  the  teachings  of 
its  masters  ;  it  disputes  not,  it  contradicts  not,  it  is  not 
mistrustful.  It  is  thus  the  man  who  wishes  to  "  enter  " 
must  receive  the  Word  of  God.  Such  were  the  dis- 
ciples. At  the  same  time  Jesus  teaches  them  not  to 
despise  the  little  ones  of  the  Church  nor  to  use  harshly 
their  ignorance  ;  to  instruct  them  with  patience  and 
gentleness,  and  to  make  themselves  children  to  gain 
children.  By  the  love  he  manifests  for  infancy  he 
teaches  how  much  we  ought  to  love  and  respect  it.  In 
the  civilized  world  of  Rome  they  made  the  children 
learn  by  heart  the  dialogues  of  Plato,  and  they  recited 
them  in  the  banquets  to  amuse  the  guests.  This  was 
but  the  least  of  the  defilements  to  which  infancy  was 
exposed.     The  rights  of  infancy  date  from  Christ. 

Jesus  embraced  children  ;  he  imposed  hands  on  them 
and  blessed  them.  He  shows  thereby,  says  St.  Remi- 
gius,  that  the  humble  in  spirit  are  worthy  of  his  graces. 
In  imposing  hands,  says  St.  Chrysostom,  he  expresses 
the  operation  of  his  divine  virtue  ;  he  blesses  according 
to  human  custom,  because  he  has  become  man  while 
remaining  God  ;  he  embraces  in  them  down-trodden 
humanity,  so  as  to  lead  it  back  to  virtue  and  holiness. 

Surely,  if  there  were  anything  in  the  Gospel  that 
one  could  not  believe,  they  are  not  the  great  mira- 
cles that  command  nature  to  obey;  they  are  not  the 
celestial  words  that  changed  the  face  of  the  earth,  nor 
those  noble  and  fearless  expressions  that  declared  the 
publican  justified  only  by  the  virtue  of  his  prayer  ;  it 
is  not  Calvary  nor  the  Eucharist,  nor  is  it  anything  of 
what  is  incomprehensible  and  thereby  visibly  divine. 
All  that  is  of  God  ;  and  when  ho  wishes  to  do  it,  it  is, 


2$6  The  Life  of  cur  Lara   Jesus   Christ. 

so  to  speak,  quite  easy  for  him  to  accomplish.     What 
confounds  and  astonishes   us   is  that  goodness  of   the 
divine    Majesty   which  mingles  itself  in  the   conversa- 
\  tions    of   men,   speaks    their    language,    prattles    with 

I  them,   takes   them  by  the   hand,   embraces    their  chil- 

dren, and  treats  sinful  man  with  more  tenderness  than 
he  was  ever  treated  since  that  time  when,  clothed  with 
)  his  innocence,  he  dwelt  in  Paradise. 

When  the  mind  dwells  on  those  scenes,  on  those 
little  children  enwrapped  in  the  arms  of  God  and  touch- 
ing his  bosom,  we  are  lost  in  amazement.  So  it  is  thus 
God  has  loved  us  ;  it  is  thus  we  know  our  worth  ;  it  is 
thus  we  estimate  the  value  of  innocence.  And  this 
innocence,  perhaps,  can  be  restored  to  us  by  one  word 
that  depends  on  ourselves  to  pronounce  ;  on  one  sigh 
that  it  depends  on  us  to  heave  into  that  abyss  which 
separates  us  from  the  Infinite,  that  immeasurable  space 
that  our  sins  have  placed  between  ourselves  and  God, 
that  leprosy  which  covers  us  all  over.  All  that  dis- 
appears. One  heartfelt,  penitential  sigh  carried  up  to 
heaven  by  the  angels  with  which  the  Man-God  sur- 
rounds us  will  instantly  be  wafted  to  the  throne  of  the 
incarnate  God,  and  our  leprosy  will  fall  off  in  an  in- 
stant, and  we  shall  be  without  stain,  the  children  of 
God  the  Most  High;  and  nothing  in  heaven  nor  on 
earth,  no  power  of  justice  nor  any  remembrance  of  our 
iniquities,  will  be  able  to  prevail  against  that  word 
which  will  open  up  to  us  his  heart  :  "  Father,  I  have 
sinned." 

It  is  thus  God  has  loved  the  world.  A  greater  mira- 
cle and  a  more  solemn  circumstance  (if  we  can  mark 
the  degrees  of  greatness  in  the  miracles  and  solemn 
circumstances  in  a  life  all  divine)  are  about  to  com- 
plete the   portrait  of  Jesus.     We  are  going  to  behold 


The  Life  of  our  Lord  yesus  Christ. 


33'/ 


him  wholly,  as  Man  and  as  God  :  as  Man,  the  tenderest 
of  friends  ;  as  God,  such  as  we  can  comprehend  him — 
master  of  the  events,  master  of  life  and  death,  master 
of  the  past  and  the  future,  but,  above  all,  the  God 
whom  he  has  taught  us  himself  to  know,  who  loves  and 
wishes  to  be  loved. 


HP^ 

n 

i 

Mefe:    ■■'# 

V. 

BOOK     VI. 

RESURRECTIONS. 


CHAPTER    I. 


LAZARUS. 

MARY  MAGDALENE  and  Martha  had  a  brother 
named  Lazarus.  All  three  dwelt  at  Bethania, 
a  village  adjacent  to  Jerusalem.  Jesus  loved  him. 
Lazarus  being  confined  to  his  bed,  his  sisters  sent  a 
messenger  to  tell  Jesus:  "  Lord,  he  whom  you  love  is 
sick  " — a  perfect  prayer,  like  that  of  the  Chanaanite 
woman.  The  perfect  prayer  consists  in  a  simple  expo- 
sition of  one's  wants  and  necessities,  accompanied  with 
a  firm  confidence  in  God,  who  can  do  all. 

Jesus,  knowing  what  was  to  happen,  answered  that 
this  sickness  would  not  cause  death,  but  that  it  was  for 
the  glory  of  God,  and  so  that  the  Son  of  Man  might  be 
glorified  by  it.  He  remained  yet  two  days  in  the  same 
place,  after  which  he  said  to  the  disciples:  "Let  us 
return  to  Judea."  The  disciples,  affrighted,  said  to 
him  :  "  Master,  the  Jews  are  on  the  watch  to  stone 
you,  and  will  }rou  go  back  among  them?"  He  gave 
them  to  understand  that  he  must  employ  the  time  to 

338 


The  Life  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ.  33g 

acquit    himself  of  his  ministry.     And  speaking  in  the 
name  of  the  Holy  Trinity   i„   announcing  a  fVOrk  of 

God,   he  adds:   "Lazarus,   our  friend,  sleepeth,  and   I 
am  going  to  arouse  him  from  his  slumber  " 

The  disciples  thought  he  meant  an  ordinary  slumber. 
They  rephed  :  «  If  he  sleepeth,  he  will  awake  from  it  " 
Jesus  said  to  them  :  «  Lazarus  is  dead  ;  and  I  am  very 
glad,  on  your  account,  not  to  have  been  there,  so  that 
you  may  believe.     But  let  us  go." 

When  Jesus  arrived,  Lazarus  had  been  buried  four 
days.     He    died  whilst    the    messenger  of    his  sisters 
announced    his    sickness.      According    to    the    estab- 
lished  usage  among  the  Jews,  after  their  return  from 
Babylon  they  carried  the   dead   bodv   at   once  to  the 
sepulchre,  bound  with  small  bandages;  but  the  sepul- 
chre was  not  instantly  closed.      Twice  every  day  the 
parents  and  friends  came  there  to  pray  for  the  departed 
soul   and    to    mourn    his    death,   until  the  sign  of  de- 
composit.on  appeared  on  the  uncovered  countenance 
Ihus  they  accomplished  the  funeral  rites  of  Lazarus 
anndst  a  great  concourse  of  friends,  because  Bethania 
was    but    an     hour's    walk    from    Jerusalem.       Those 
friends,  for  the  most  part  yet  present,  accompanying 
Martha    and    Magdalene    in  their  visits    to    the    dead 
Lazarus,  had  seen  the  dead  body,  and  had  incontro- 
vertibly  attested  the  decomposition.     It  was  only  then 
that  the  winding-sheet  had  been  placed  on  the  face 
Everybody  retired  from  the  sepulchre,  and  they  rolled 
up  the  stone  which  closed  its  entrance. 

Martha   aware  that  Jesus  had  come,  went  to  present 
herself  before  him.     Mary  remained  at  home  ;  she  either 
was  ignorant  of  the  presence  of  the  Master  or  she  con 
sidered  it  her  duty  to  remain  at  home  and  do  the  hospi- 
talities of  the  house.   "Lord,"  said  Martha,  "if  you  had 


3_io  The  Life  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ. 

been  here,  my  brother  would  not  have  died  ;  but  now 
I  know  God  will  grant  you  whatever  you  ask  of  him." 
This    language    expressed  a  wavering    and    hesitating  I 

faith.     The  sister  of  Lazarus  seemed  incapable  of  com-  j 

prehending  that  the  friends  of  Jesus  could  be  stricken  J 

down  by  death  and  grief.  Jesus  said  to  her:  "Your 
brother  will  rise  again."  Martha  replied  :  "  I  know  he 
will  rise  up  at  the  last  day."  Jesus,  wishing  to  increase 
and  strengthen  the  faith  of  Martha,  and  to  teach  her 
that  there  was  not  even  need  of  asking,  said  to  her 
those  words  of  God  :  "  I  am  the  resurrection  and  the 
life  ;  he  who  believes  in  me  shall  live,  even  should  he 
be  dead  ;  and  whoever   lives  and   believes  in   me  shall  \ 

never  die.     Do  you  believe  this?"  [ 

Already  we  have  seen  the  Saviour  requiring  faith 
from  others  in  favor  of  those  for  whom  they  im- 
plored him  ;  because  all  the  members  are  united  in 
the  one  same  body,  and  ought   and   must  act   the  one  \ 

for  the  other.  This  is  the  communion  of  saints. 
Martha  answered  by  an  act  of  perfect  theological 
faith  :  "  Yes,  Lord,  I  believe  you  are  the  Christ,  the 
Son  of  the  living  God,  who  art  come  into  this 
world." 

After  those  words  Martha  returned  to  her  sister  and 
told  her  what  Jesus  demanded  of  her.  Forthwith  Mary 
goes  forth  to  find  the  Lord  at  the  place  where  Martha 
met  him.  Her  guests  followed  her,  thinking  that 
she  was  going  to  the  sepulchre.  As  soon  as  Mary  saw 
Jesus  she  fell  at  his  feet  and  said  to  him  :  "  Lord,  if 
you  had  been  here  my  brother  would  not  have  died.'' 
Jesus,  seeing  her  weep  (she  and  the  Jews  who  had  ac- 
companied her),  groaned  in  his  spirit,  and  was  troubled 
in  himself, — that  is  to  say,  by  his  own  will.  Fully  mas- 
ter of  all  the  sensations  that  his  humanity  could  expe- 


) 

Tlie  Life  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Cluist.  341 

riencc,  he  allows  himself  to  be  freely  carried  away  with 
çrief  for  those  whom  he  loved. 

He   said,   "Where   have  you  put  him?"     "Lord," 
they  answered    him,    "  come    and    see."     Then    Jesus 
wept,  and   the    Jews  said,  "  See   how   much   he   loved 
j  him."     But  others  said,  "Could  he  not   prevent   him  \ 

from  dying  who  gave  sight  to  the  man  born  blind?" 
The  evangelist,  remarks  St.  Cyril,  relates  with  a  sort 
of  stupor  the  tears  of  Jesus.  His  tears,  other  inter- 
preters say,  flowed  like  those  of  the  men  who  sur- 
rounded him,  but  not  from  the  same  source.  Lazarus, 
in  the  obscurity  of  the  sepulchre,  represents  to  him  the 
human  race  buried — that  is  to  say,  decomposed.  He 
mourns  and  weeps  for  this  condition  of  his  creatures, 
destined  to  double  immortality,  but  become  the  slave 
of  a  twofold  death  ;  he  weeps  for  those  who  will  rise 
no  more.  Jesus,  groaning  again  within  himself,  came 
to  the  sepulchre.  It  was  a  grotto  ;  a  stone  closed  up 
its  entrance.  Jesus  said  :  "  Remove  the  stone." 
"  Lord,"  Martha  remarked,  "  he  already  begins  to 
stink,  because  it  is  the  fourth  da)'."  Jesus  replied  : 
"  Have  I  not  told  you  that  if  you  believe  you  will  see 
the  glory  of  God  ?"  They  removed  the  stone,  and  Jesus, 
raising  his  eyes  to  heaven,  said  :   "  My  Father,  I   give 


( 


you   thanks   that   you    have  heard    me.     As  to   me,  I 


know  you  always  hear  me;  but  I  say  this  for  tin's 
people  who  surround  me,  that  they  may  believe  that 
it  is  you  who  have  sent  me."  Then  he  cried  out  in  a 
loud  voice:  "Lazarus,  come  forth!"  And  at  that 
instant  lie  who  had  been  dead  came  forth  with  hands 
and  feet  bound  by  bandages,  the  winding-sheet  yet  on 
his  face.  Jesus  said  to  them;  "Unbind  him  and  let 
)  him  go." 

What  words  !     What  a  work  !     St.  Chrysostom  says 


The  Life  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ. 


that  it  was  the  art  of  mercy  by  which  Jesus  veiled  and 
at  the  same  time  made  manifest  his  divinity.  He 
prays  to  his  Father  and  thanks  him  :  "  I  know  you 
always  hear  me  ;  but  I  speak  for  this  people."  Giving 
them  to  understand  that  he  has  no  need  to  supplicate, 
he  considers,  nevertheless,  the  weakness  of  his  auditors. 
The  Son  of  God  considers  not  his  dignity,  but  our  sal- 
vation ;  humble  things  abound  in  his  discourses,  but 
the  divine  he  shrouds.  Nevertheless,  they  are  visible, 
and  heaven  and  earth  are  eager  to  obey.  "  I  am  the 
resurrection  and  the  life  "  ;  "  Lazarus,  come  forth  !  " — 
there  we  must  recognize  the  Word,  that  Eternal  Voice 
which  speaks  to  nothingness,  and  from  every  side 
brings  forth  life.  Death,  says  Bossuet,  had  never 
been  treated  before  in  this  imperial  manner.  He 
names  Lazarus,  says  St.  Augustine,  so  as  not  to  force 
all  the  dead  to  rise  up  from  their  graves. 

Incredulity  saddens  human  reason  by  the  efforts  it 
continually  makes  against  this  miracle,  wherein  histori 
cal  reality  is  not  less  evident  than  the  divine  character. 
The  groaning  of  Jesus  has  been  pointed  at  as  a  mark  of 
deceit.  From  it  the  savants  discover  that  Lazarus 
had  not  been  raised  up  from  the  dead,  or  that  he  was 
dead.  The  Fathers  remarked  this  groaning  of  the  Son 
of  God.  He  groaned,  they  said,  at  the  blind  folly  of 
the  Jews,  whose  incredulity  was  confirmed  by  a  mira- 
cle, and  who  said  :  "  Can  he  not  prevent  the  death  of 
his  friend  who  gave  sight  to  the  blind  ?  "  He  was 
obliged  to  groan,  besides,  from  the  very  depths  of  his 
soul,  seeing  in  the  future  so  many  souls,  washed  in  his 
baptism,  reject  evidence  and  choose  damnation.  In 
vain  do  we  know  that  every  folly  is  possible  to  man. 
The  folly  of  wronging  Jesus  Christ  appears  inconceiv- 
able.    It   would   be  enough,  one  would  think,  to  dciv; 


The  Life  of  our  Lord  yesus  Christ.  343 

without  insulting  so  much  goodness,  so  much  justice, 
so  much  love.  But  there  is  a  cause  for  this  insanity. 
The  cause  is  the  horrible  wish  that  there  should  be  no 
God.  And  this  wish  proves  that  God  is  and  that 
Jesus  is  God.  "  Why  do  you  come  to  torment  us?" 
cried  out  the  devils  by  the  mouth  of  the  possessed. 
"  What  have  we  to  do  with  you,  Jesus,  Son  of  the  Most 
High  God?" 

To  resist  the  falsehood  and  wrong  Jesus  Christ  has 
armed  his  works  with  a  power  that  Satan  can  combat, 
but  which  will  conquer  him.  He  has  given- life  to  his 
works.  Like  all  the  other  miracles,  the  resurrection 
of  Lazarus  is  a  perpetual  miracle.  In  the  least  details 
it  symbolizes  a  marvel  the  Church  accomplishes  every 
day. 

Adam  received  at  the  one  time  two  lives.  While 
giving  a  soul  to  the  body  that  he  had  fashioned  God 
united  himself  to  this  soul  by  his  grace.  It  is  thus, 
the  Scriptures  tell  us,  that  Adam  went  forth,  a  living 
soul,  from  the  hands  of  the  Creator.  By  the  union  of 
the  soul  with  the  body  he  had  physical  life;  by  the 
union,  incomparably  more  exalted,  of  that  soul  with 
God,  he  had  the  spiritual  life.  The  soul  animates  the 
body,  God  vivifies  the  soul;  and  all  being  of  God,  all 
has  immortality.  Man,  separating  himself  from  God 
by  disobedience,  instantly  loses  all.  Separated  from 
God,  the  soul  dies,  as  the  body  dies  separated  from  the 
soul.  Though  a  sort  of  life  may  subsist,  yet  to  depart 
irremediably  from  the  condition  for  which  one  was 
created  is  to  die.  Thus  to  the  twofold  life  which 
has  been  given  to  him,  by  sin  a  twofold  death  ac- 
crued to  man.  But  God  had  pity  on  the  works  of  his 
hands,  and  Jesus  Christ,  more  powerful  than  death, 
came  to  repair  this   disaster.      He  declared  it  himself: 


The  Life  of  our  Lord  Jesus   Christ. 

"  Verily,  verily  I  say  to  you,  the  dead  shall  hear  the 
voice  of  the  Son  of  God,  and  those  who  shall  hear  it 
shall  live."  The  doctors  explain  that  those  dead  are 
dead  through  sin.  It  is  clear  that  those  who  "  shall 
hear  "  are  those  only  who  will  believe  and  who  would 
wish  to  be  saved. 

The  three   resurrections  mentioned  in  the  Gospel  at- 
test the  promise  of  Jesus   and   teach  man   how  he  can 
obtain  the  fruit  of  them.    Without  doubt  the  daughter 
of  Jairus,  the  son  of  the  widow,  and  Lazarus  were  not 
j  the  only  ones  drawn    from   death.      According   to   St. 

Augustine,  many  others   who   had   passed   away  were 
|  brought  back  to  life.     The  three  resurrections  are  only 

marked,  because  the  circumstances  of  each  sufficiently 
I  indicate  the   three  classes  among  which  we  can  divide 

\  sinners,  and  the  means  which  are  'given  them  to  rise  to 

a  spiritual  life. 
<  The  daughter  of  Jairus,  dead,  but  yet  in  the  paternal 

\  mansion,  is  the  hidden   sinner  whom  nobody  suspects 

J  to  be  dead.     The  son  of  the  widow,  already  outside  of 

the  city  and  on  the  way  to  the  grave,  is  the  public  sin- 
ner   when    he    has    entered    on    his    life    of   scandal. 
Lazarus,  already  four  days  in  the  tomb,  and   quite   de- 
)  composed,   is    the    hardened    sinner,  horrible    to    the 

world,  horrible  to  himself,  driven  to  despair  under  the 
weight  of  habitual  sin,  under  the  stone.  Every  sinner 
necessarily  belongs  to  one  of  these  three  categories. 
The  three  resurrections  teach  us  how  each  one  can  be 
born  again. 

The  young  daughter,  who  dies  in  her  father's  house, 
is  raised  up  without  trouble  :  "  Daughter,  arise."  She 
is  alive  again  before  her  father  and  her  mother,  so  to 
speak,  could  have  missed  her.  The  apostles  who  are 
there  present,  representing  faith,  hope,  and  charity,  are 


The  Life  of  our  Lord  Jestts  Christ. 


345 


a  type  of  grace,  inactive,  certainly,  though  not  quite 
departed.  Effrontery  has  not  banished  good  thoughts; 
habit  has  not  done  its  systematic  work  there.  Al- 
though to  sin  be  always  the  same  as  to  die,  says  St. 
Augustine,  it  is  one  thing  to  sin  once  and  another  to 
sin  always;  and  if  life  be  brought  back  so  quickly, 
it  is  to  give  us  to  understand  that  the  sinner  who  in- 
stantly corrects  himself  is  instantly  brought  to  life 
again.  He  who  is  not  clothed  in  the  habit  of  sin  is 
not  buried.  "  Only  chase  off,"  says  St.  Gregory,  "  ban- 
ish from  around  your  heart,  the  throng  of  irregular 
affections,  those  soft  enchanters,  those  trifling  babblers, 
those  flatterers  of  the  ear,  who  promise  you  so  much 
joy,  and  who  are  in  reality  but  chanting  your  death-dirge  ; 
then,  finding  no  longer  an  obstacle  in  you,  Jesus  will 
take  you  by  the  hand,  and  he  will  raise  you  up  as  a 
man  who  sleeps  is  awakened  by  the  hand  of  a 
friend."  Rise  up,  then,  and  walk,  as  it  is  said  the  young 
girl  arose  and  walked.  To  prove  you  are  converted 
you  must  walk  with  more  vigor  than  before.  And  eat  ; 
for  Jesus,  having  raised  up  the  young  girl,  commanded 
that  they  should  give  her  to  eat.  This  is  what  shows, 
says  the  Venerable  Bede,  the  favorable  condition  of  the 
sinner,  of  whom  we  have  here  a  figure,  because  he 
can,  as  soon  as  reconciled,  be  admitted  to  the  Euchar- 
istie table;  and  what  teaches  us  at  the  same  time,  ac- 
cording to  another  interpreter,  that  the  flesh  of  Jesus 
Christ  is  the  necessary  nourishment  of  immortality. 

Few  sinners  profit  by  this  grace,  offered  to  all,  by 
struggling  against  seduction,  rejecting  the  sophisms  of 
evil,  knowing  how  to  withdraw  themselves  from  the 
cynicism  of  habit.  The  greater  number,  on  the  con- 
trary, harden  themselves  against  God  very  soon  ;  like 
those  of  Sodom,  they  glory  in  their  sin.     It  is  when  the 


346  77/if  Life  of  oar  Lord  yesus  Christ. 


mourns,  she  weeps,  for  him.     Go  now  ;  console  your 


dead  man,  carried  from  the  city  into  the  open  field, 
appears  in  his  hideous  slumber,  and  his  mother,  the 
Church,  follows  and  weeps  over  him.  She  weeps  over 
this  dead  son  ;  she  weeps  over  those  who  see  him.  To 
many  this  pomp  of  the  insolent  corpse,  couched  on  the 
;  vices  which  carry  it  to  the  grave,  is  not  frightful,  but 

\  rather  a  triumph  they  envy.     And  there  are  many  of  > 

the  children  of  the  Church  who  love  to  see  their  mo- 
ther weep.  Such,  then,  is  the  public  sinner.  He  goes 
forth  an  example.  By  his  example  he  destroys  mo- 
desty and  the  fear  of  God.  "  My  feet  have  tottered," 
says  David,  "  because  I  have  seen  the  place  of  the  sin- 
ner." Who  shall  resuscitate  that  man?  The  same  God 
\  who  raised  up  the  other — this  God  who  hears  our  pray- 

)  ers,  who  -sees  our  tears,  who  wishes    not    that   death 

would   always   carry  off  its   prey,  and   who   has   made 
himself  obedient  to  those  who  fear  him,  even  to  the 
granting  of  salvation  for  their  sake  to  those  who  deny 
\  him.     With  the  same  goodness  and  the  same  power  he 

)  will  reanimate  this  dead  body  of  sin.     But  that  there 

is   more  effort   and  more  doubt  in  the  conversion  of 
)  public   sinners   is  what   the   Saviour  has   given    us    to 

understand  by  manifesting  a  certain  hesitancy  in  the  re- 
surrection of  the  widow's  son.  Moved  by  the  tears  of 
that  mother,  he  approaches  the  bier,  touches  it  in  a  mys- 
terious manner,  stops  those  who  carry  him  (for  the  in- 
tervention of  Jesus  takes  from  vice  its  power),  and  at 
length  he  commands,  "  Arise  "  ;  and  at  the  sound  of  this 
voice  the  dead  man  returns  to  life.  He  raises  himself 
and  speaks,  but  remains  seated  in  his  coffin.  He  re- 
quires the  assistance  of  Jesus  to  descend.  "  And  Jesus 
hands  him  over  to  his  mother."     It  was  to  hand  him 


) 

over  to  the  Church  that  he  resuscitated  him  ;   for  she 

( 


The  Life  of  otir  Lord   Jesus  Christ, 


347 


mother;  proclaim  that  you  were  dead;  tell  who  has 
restored  you  to  life  again. 

There  is  a  death  more  profound  and  a  hope  more 
abandoned.  Not  only  life  is  extinguished,  but  even 
the  form  of  the  body  is  dissolved  in  the  enclosed 
tomb.  The  man  four  days  dead,  gone  out  from  his 
house,  departed  from  the  city,  buried,  putrefied,  is  the 
sinner  so  engulfed  and  tied  down  in  the  habit  of  sin 
that  it  seems  he  cannot  be  moved,  even  by  the  desire 
to  come  forth  to  light.  And  if  the  desire  arises,  weak  as 
the  ray  of  light  which  may  penetrate  the  rock  rolled 
over  him,  he  does  not  know  how  to  make  an  effort. 
He  despairs,  and  all  is  ended.  St.  Bernard,  a  great 
moralist,  as  all  the  saints  are,  points  out  the  degrees 
of  this  fall  :  familiarity  with  sin  becomes  a  habit,  habit 
a  necessity,  necessity  an  impossibility  of  amending 
one's  life,  impossibility  begets  despair,  despair  is  dam- 
nation. For  peace  was  at  least  for  a  long  time  but  on 
the  surface.  The  decomposition  or  ruin  of  the  con- 
science in  the  vanquished  soul  is  not  achieved  without 
frightful  pain.  Many  a  one  outwardly  plumes  himself 
who  trembles  within  with  great  fear,  and  would  wish 
to  shake  off  his  lethargy.  We  know  them  well.  Before 
the  world  they  are  arrogant;  at  bottom,  quite  at  the 
bottom  of  their  heart,  faith  yet  lives  under  the  form  of 
fear.  We  press  them  to  save  themselves  ;  they  rally, 
then  they  vacillate,  then  they  say,  I  cannot!  In  fact, 
they  cannot.  Of  themselves  they  cannot  open  again 
the  tomb. 

But  what  they  cannot  do  Jesus  Christ  can  and  wishes 
to  do.  The  faithful  have  called  on  him  by  their  prayers, 
and  he  comes.  The  faithful  weep  and  he  is  moved  by 
their  tears.  The  faithful  believe,  and  he  promises  a  mi- 
racle on  account  of  their  faith.     Lord,  if  you  had  been 


348 


The  Life  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ. 


here  my  brother  would  not  have  died  ;  Lord,  you  are 
the  resurrection  ;  Lord,  come  and  see  where  they 
have  put  him.  These  prayers  of  the  saints,  the 
good  works  by  which  they  are  accompanied,  are  so 
many  strong  and  powerful  hands  which  "  remove  "  the 
stone.  The  charity  of  the  faithful,  the  grand  and 
fecund  virtues  of  the  Church,  crush  to  pieces  the  heavy 
enclosure,  and  cause  the  pure  air  and  light  to  penetrate 
into  that  hideous  cavern.  The  bondsman  of  sin,  the 
captive,  the  corpse,  conceives  some  good  desire  of 
being  saved.  This  is  Jesus'  moment  ;  he  is  there,  he 
looks  on,  he  raises  up  his  voice,  which  creates  life  : 
"  Lazarus,  come  forth  !  " 

Lazarus  comes  forth  alive,  but  not  unbound  ;  the  ban- 
dages, tightly  closed  up  in  three  doubles  and  soaked  in 
aromatics,  wrap  his  feet  and  hands  ;  his  face  is  yet  cover- 
ed with  the  shroud.  When  you  despise,  says  St.  Au- 
gustine, you  lie  in  the  tomb  ;  when  you  confess,  you 
go  out  from  it.  It  is  God  who  leads  you  out  of  it  by 
raising  his  voice — that  is  to  say,  in  calling  you  through 
a  great  grace.  But  he  that  was  dead  comes  forth  yet 
tied  up,  the  penitent  is  yet  guilty.  And  this  is 
why  he  has  said  to  the  disciples  :  "  Unloose  him  ;  let 
him  go."  Unloose  him  from  his  sins.  Christ,  con- 
tinues Alcuin,  resusitates,  because  it  is  he  who  revives 
the  inward  man.  The  disciples  unbind  ;  for  it  is  by 
the  ministry  of  the  priests  of  Christ  that  those  whom 
he  has  vivified  are  absolved.  In  the  paintings  of  the 
Middle  Ages  it  is  St.  Peter  who  unbinds  Lazarus. 

This  great  miracle  of  the  resurrection  of  Lazarus 
contains  another  instruction.  Jesus  Christ,  who  there- 
by proved  to  us  his  divinity  in  so  clear  a  manner,  proves 
to  us  also  the  resurrection  of  the  dead. 


CHAPTER  II. 


THE   GENERAL   RESURRECTION-. 

JOB,  eaten  up  with  ulcers,  seated  on  the  dunghill, 
but  even  then  glorified,  glorious  in  his  humiliation, 
cries  out  :  "  My  Redeemer  liveth  ;  and  I  myself  on  the 
last  day  shall  rise  in  my  flesh,  and  I  shall  see  my  God. 
I  shall  see  him  myself;  I  shall  contemplate  him  with 
my  own  eyes."  Long  ages  after  Job  Jesus  said  : 
"  The  time  is  come  wherein  all  those  who  are  in  their 
graves  shall  hear  the  voice  of  the  Son  of  God;  and 
those  who  shall  have  done  good  shall  rise  to  possess 
life  ;  and  those  who  have  done  evil  shall  arise  for  their 
condemnation." 

The  dogma  of  the  resurrection  of  bodies  is  estab- 
lished in  the  resurrection  of  Lazarus  by  a  visible  and 
material  proof.  God  could  do  for  all  what  he  has  done 
for  one  only.  He  who  raised  up  Lazarus,  four  days 
dead  and  already  decomposed,  can  also  raise  up  Adam 
and  all  those  who  have  died  since  Adam  to  the  end  of 
the  world. 

Jesus,  weeping  at  the  tomb  of  Lazarus,  does  not 
weep  over  Lazarus,  who  was  going  to  receive  life  again  ; 
he  wept  over  the  human  race,  reduced  by  sin  to  sub- 
mit to  the  horrors  of  death.  Those  tears,  that  trouble, 
those  groanings,  all  those  unusual  emotions  of  his  most 
holy  soul,  indicate  an  act  more  solemn  than  any  other; 


35 o  The  Life  of  our  Lord  Jesus   Christ. 

and,  in  truth,  there  was  in  all  this  a  question  of  final 
victory.  Here  is  the  type  of  the  consummation  of  all 
things  :  the  destruction  of  the  empire  of  evil,  the  de- 
struction of  death,  the  resurrection  for  life,  and  the 
resurrection  for  judgment. 

His  voice  is  raised  as  if  to  resound  throughout  the 
whole  world,  like  the  sound  of  the  trumpet  on  the  last 
day.  He  speaks  in  his  own  name  with  full  authority, 
"  Come  !  "  and  the  dead  lives.  Nothing  opposes  him. 
The  ties  are  broken,  the  decomposed  flesh  is  reformed, 
the  blood  resumes  its  wonted  course,  the  eyes  see,  the 
ears  hear  ;  as  the  arrow  leaps  forth  from  the  bow,  so  life 
darts  forth  from  the  tomb.  The  general  resurrection 
will  occur  in  like  manner.  From  every  grave,  from 
every  pit,  from  the  very  dust  to  which  our  bodies  have 
been  reduced,  the  scattered  atoms  which  had  formed 
our  bodies  shall  reunite  themselves  to  the  immortal 
souls  that  animated  them.  "  In  an  instant,"  says  St. 
Paul,  "  in  the  twinkling  of  an  eye,  at  the  sound  of  the 
last  trumpet,  the  dead  shall  rise  up  to  be  immortal." 
Come,  Lazarus  !  Dust  of  the  human  race,  come  to 
life.  And  instantly — in  ictu  oculi — that  dust  shall  live 
again. 

"  I  am  the  resurrection  and  the  life."  Why  "  the 
life  "  ?  Because,  says  St.  Cyril,  there  is  but  one  true 
life,  which  is  life  eternal.  To  rise  up  to  suffer  again 
is  a  life  worse  than  death.  Jesus  Christ  is  the  princi- 
ple of  resurrection  for  all.  He  is  only  the  principle  of 
life  for  his  elect.  "  He  who  believes  in  me  shall  live  ; 
and  he  who  believes  and  lives  in  me  shall  never  die." 
That  is  to  say,  I  am  the  life  of  the  soul  and  the  re- 
surrection of  the  body.  He  who  lives  in  me  through 
a  pure  faith  shares  in  this  resurrection  and  in  this  life  ; 
and  even  if  his  flesh  should  be   dead   for  a  while,  on 


The  Life  of  our  Lord  Jesus   Christ. 


•35  * 


account  of  the  law  of  the  flesh,  his  soul  shall  live.  And 
when  his  flesh  shall  rise  up,  associated  to  this  divine 
life,  it  shall  rise  up  for  heaven,  so  that  the  whole  man 
shall  triumph  for  ever  over  death.  Jesus  Christ  him- 
self clearly  distinguishes  the  resurrection  of  life:  "  All 
those  who  have  done  good  shall  go  to  the  resurrection 
of  life  ;  and  those  who  shall  have  done  evil  shall  under- 
go the  resurrection  of  judgment."  Thus  there  are 
two  sorts  of  resurrections — the  resurrection  of  recom- 
pense and  the  resurrection  of  chastisement.  This  ex- 
plains why  so  many  men  do  not  wish  to  believe  in  the 
resurrection,  and  deny  Jesus  Christ,  the  principle  of 
resurrection. 

The  dogma  of  the  resurrection  flows  from  the  dogma 
of  the  Incarnation.  It  is  so  strictly  united  to  all  the 
Christian  mysteries  that  we  cannot  deny  it  without 
denying  Christianity.  How  can  we  admit  that  God  is 
united  to  human  nature,  and  has  assumed  its  infirmi- 
ties, and  undergone  death,  without  leaving  in  it  the  germ 
of  his  strength  and  immortality  ?  Death  is  one  of  the 
principles  consequent  on  the  sin  of  Adam.  If  the 
posterity  of  Adam  was  not  to  be  resuscitated  in  its 
entirety,  then  it  would  not  have  been  rehabilitated  by 
the  second  Adam  ;  then  Jesus  Christ  would  only  have 
half  purchased  us  ;  then  Adam  would  have  been  more 
powerful  to  destroy  than  God  to  repair,  and  the  great 
work  of  the  redemption  would  be  defective,  and  even 
vain  and  fruitless. 

In  effect,  Jesus  Christ,  says  St.  Paul,  had  the  same 
humanity  as  ourselves.  If  our  humanity  does  not  rise, 
his  did  not  rise;  if  he  cannot  one  day  raise  us  up  from 
the  grave,  he  has  not  been  able  to  raise  himself  up. 
But  if  Jesus  Christ  has  not  arisen,  his  apostles  are  no- 
thing but  a  pack  of  false  witnesses  going  about  sacrile- 


352  The  Life  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ. 

giously  to  announce  to  the  world  a  miracle  that  God 
never  wrought.  If  Jesus  Christ  has  not  arisen  from 
the  dead,  he  cannot  triumph  over  death  ;  if  he  cannot 
triumph  over  death,  he  is  no  longer  capable  of  triumph- 
ing over  sin,  which  is  the  cause  of  death.  Therefore 
our  sin  subsists,  with  all  its  consequences.     We  have  ) 

not  been  purchased  ;  we  are  yet  under  the  weight  of 
the  ancient  anathema,  the  product  of  sin.  But  if  Jesus 
Christ  has  not  purchased  us,  he  was  not  God,  he  was  [ 

but  man  ;  and  all  the  preaching  of  the  Gospel  is  only 
imposture,  all  Christianity  an  absurdity.  Thus,  accord- 
ing to  St.  Paul,  to  deny  the  resurrection  is  to  deny  the 
incarnation,  even  the  divinity,  of  Jesus  Christ.  This 
negation  leads  to  the  negation  of  the  existence  of  God, 
of  the  soul,  of  everything. 

On  the  contrary,  the  dogma  of  the  universal  resur- 
rection affirms  the  whole  of  Christianity.  He  tells  us 
that,  as  we  shall  presently  feel  the  effects  of  the  death 
of  the  Redeemer  by  our  liberation  from  sin,  so  shall  we 
receive,  at  the  last  day,  the  fruit  of  his  resurrection 
through  our  deliverance  from  death.  Now,  we  are 
bound  to  undergo  sufferings  and  death,  since  our  Chief 
and  Lord  underwent  them  ;  but  this  Chief,  having  suf- 
fered death  for  us,  has  also  arisen  for  us.  He  is  the 
pledge  as  well  as  the  power  of  God,  by  which  he  has 
been  raised  up  ;  he  who  is  the  consubstantial  Son  shall 
raise  us  up  also — us,  his  sons  by  adoption.  As  Jesus 
Christ  died  united  to  all  humanity,  so  entire  humanity 
shall  rise  up  as  united  through  him  to  the  Divinity.  He 
has  taken  our  death  without  ceasing  to  be  "  the  Resur- 
rection," and  thereby  has  made  us  acquire  resurrection, 
and  we  have  relinquished  death.  Having  destroyed 
sin  in  us,  which  is  the  death  of  the  soul,  the  first  death, 
he  destroys  even  the  second  death,  which  is  the  death 


The  Life  of  our  Lord   <¥esus   Chris/.  7  =  - 

of  the  body.  But,  concludes  the  apostle,  since  the 
resurrection  of  Christ  shall  be  the  cause  of  our  resur- 
rection, having  once  risen  in  him,  we  shall  be  raised 
up,  like  him,  to  die  no  more  ;  we  shall  no  more  speak 
of  death,  and  death  will  have  no  longer  a  right  over 
the  race  of  Adam.  Then  shall  be  accomplished  the 
great  prophesy  of  Osec  :  "Death,  absorbed  in  the  vic- 
tory of  the  Redeemer,  shall  be  abolished." 

The  learned  and  eloquent  Ventura,  whose  comments 
we  here  follow,  glances  at  the  truth  of  the  dogma  of  the 
resurrection  in  the  natural  order.  In  the  presence  of 
the  reveries  of  incredulous  science  the  ideas  he  draws 
from  the  Scriptures  and  the  fathers  afford  opportune 
light. 

According  to  the  definition  of  the  Council  of  Vienna, 
"  the  intelligent  soul  is  the  substantial  form  of  the  hu- 
man body."  Made  to  be  the  dwelling  of  the  immortal 
soul,  the  human  body  has  been  created  in  such  har- 
mony with  it  that  it  ought  also  to  live  everlastingly 
According  to  St.  Thomas,  God,  in  the  institution  of  hu- 
man nature,  attributes  to  the  body  a  certain  incorrup- 
tibility, so  that  this  matter  should  be  worthy  to  be 
united  to  an  immortal  substance  or  form.  God,  says 
the  Scripture,  created  man  that  he  should  endure  for 
ever:  "  Creavit  Dais  homincm  inexten/iinabilem." 

But  the  sin  of  man  having  disturbed  the  natural 
order  between  the  soul  and  God,  the  primitive  order 
between  the  soul  and  the  body  became  also  troubled 
The  soul  was  deprived  of  sanctifying  grace  divinely  in- 
fused, which  elevated  it  to  God.  The  body  lost  the  in- 
corruptibility accorded  to  it,  which  lifted  it  to  the  dig- 
nity of  the  soul  ;  hence  the  cause  of  death.  The  UoW 
Scriptures  say  that  death  is  not  the  work  of  God  ;  hence 
it  is  not  the  natural  condition  of  man-it  is  but 'an  ac- 


354  The  Life  of  otir  Lord  Jesus  Christ. 

cidenr  Happening  in  consequence  of  sin.  But  this  acci- 
dent, which  has  changed  the  condition  of  man,  Jesus 
Christ  has  taken  away.  By  the  merit  of  his  death 
Jesus  Christ  destroyed  our  death  ;  his  divine  virtue  has 
rendered  to  the  body  the  primitive  privilege  of  incor- 
ruptibility, whereby  man  shall  one  day  be  restored  to 
a  life  thereafter  exempt  from  sin. 

Thus  the  resurrection  of  the  dead,  concludes  St. 
Thomas,  will  be  a  prodigy,  perhaps  the  greatest  of  all 
prodigies  after  that  of  the  Eucharist  ;  but  it  will  be  a 
prodigy  only  relatively  to  the  active  principle  who  will 
perform  it — to  wit,  the  divine  power  which  alone  can  \ 

operate  it.  As  to  its  end,  the  resurrection  will  not  be 
a  fact  beyond  or  above  the  natural  laws  ;  it  will  be  a 
thing  most  natural,  most  conformable  to  the  laws 
which  regulate  and  govern  nature.  It  is  natural  that 
matter  should  be  reunited  to  its  form,  the  body  to  the 
soul.  It  will  not  be  necessary  to  innovate,  but  to  re- 
establish, to  reinstate.  There  is  no  question  of  intro- 
ducing a  new  order,  but  of  restoring  the  ancient  order, 
to  brine  back  human  nature  to  the  condition  wherein 
God  had  placed  it. 

Let  us  remark  besides,  continues  the  holy  doctor, 
that  the  soul  is  immortal,  and  therefore  it  will  survive 
for  ever  the  death  of  the  body.  But,  according  to  its 
essence,  it  is  the  substantial  form  of  the  body  ;  if,  then, 
the  body  does  not  rise,  it  will  be  a  form  for  ever  sepa- 
rated from  its  matter.  But  it  is  contrary  to  the  natural 
laws  that  a  form   always  subsisting   should  always  be  i 

separated  from  its  matter.  But  what  is  contrary  to 
nature  cannot  always  endure  ;  therefore  the  soul  can- 
not for  ever  be  separated  from  the  body.  Therefore 
the  resurrection  is  far  from  being  a  strange  and  incon- 
ceivable   thing  ;    the   strange  and   inconceivable   thing 


I 


77/i?  Life  of  our  Lord   "Jesus  Christ. 


355 


would  be,  on  the  contrary,  the  everlasting  death  of  the 
human  body,  the  eternal  widowhood  of  the  soul  sepa- 
rated for  ever  from  the  body,  whose  form  it  was,  and  to 
which  it  was  substantially  united. 

Yes,  yes,  says  St.  Augustine,  the  primal  unity,  the 
ancient  fraternity,  of  the  soul  and  the  body  will  be  re- 
established. It  will  shine  forth  in  the  same  man,  never 
more  to  be  dissolved  ;  God  having  judged  it  worthy 
of  his  wisdom  and  of  his  goodness  that  the  soul  and 
the  body,  once  substantially  united,  should  reign  to- 
gether with  Jesus  Christ  in  heaven,  since  they  will  have 
served  Jesus  Christ  on  earth. 

Without  the  resurrection  of  the  bodies  the  natural 
order  of  the  universe  would  be  incomplete.  The  fa- 
thers have  strongly  insisted  on  this  proof.  Each  species 
of  seed,  says  Tertullian,  after  having  been,  in  a  pecu- 
liar manner,  dissolved  and  corrupted,  recommences  to 
bud  forth  more  vivacious  than  before.  All  created 
beings  are  preserved  by  perishing.  Everything  in 
nature  after  death  returns  to  a  new  life.  It  cannot  be 
that,  in  the  midst  of  the  flux  and  reflux  of  beings  who 
die  and  who  rise  up  again,  man  alone,  who  is  the  sover- 
eign of  all,  could  have  been  created  to  perish  for  ever. 

But  how  is  it  possible  that  the  human  body  could  be 
born  again  from  its  ashes?  Just  as  it  has  been  possible 
that  man  should  be  born  from  nothing.  Look  on  your- 
self, says  Tertullian.  The  proof  is  in  yourself.  You 
are  yourself  the  living  proof  of  the  future  resurrection. 
There  was  a  time  when  you  did  not  exist,  and  you 
were,  absolutely  nothing;  and  you  now  actually  exist. 
He  whd  drew  you  forth  from  nothing  the  first  time, 
body  and  soul,  cannot  he  draw  you  from  nothing  the 
second  time?  You  are  not  now  so  engulfed  in  no- 
thingness as  the  first  time.     In  the  resurrection  nothing 


and  you  have  issued  soul  and  body  from  this  nothing  ; 


) 

356  The  Life  of  our  Lord  jfcsus  Christ.  > 

I  •  1 

new  will  happen  to  you,  only  the  resurrection  which 

was  executed  for  the  whole  being  the  first  time  will  be  > 

)  renewed  for  the  lesser  part  of  it.     You  were  nothing,  ^ 

) 

)  you   will   be  a  soul  only,  and  your  body  only  will  be 

restored    to   you    from   nothing,    or   rather,    from    the 
appearance  of  nothing.     You  are  anxious  to  know  how  ( 

you  will  live  again.     Find  out  first,  if  you  can, 'how  you 


( 
were  brought  to  life  at   first,  and  tell  us  what  hindered 

you  from  returning  whence  you  came.  St.  Jerome 
and  St.  Augustine  consider  it  a  miracle  of  less  magni-  ( 

tude  to  restore  existence  than  to  have  given  it.  At 
the  beginning,  says  St.  Cyril  of  Jerusalem,  God  took 
of  the  dust  and  changed  it  into  flesh  which  had 
never  been  before.  Why  could  he  not,  at  the  end  of 
time,  change  into  flesh  a  dust  which  had  already  been 
flesh.  What  is  the  human  body  in  the  maternal  womb? 
A  germ  hardly  visible,  a  particle  of  matter  unformed 
and  inert.  By  infusing  into  it  a  soul  God  made  man 
out  of  it.  He  hardens,  figures,  and  arranges  this  mat- 
ter, and  he  draws  the  beautiful  form  of  man  from  it. 
And  what  he  has  known  how  to  do  so  perfectly,  is  it 
not  in  his  power  to  remake  it  ? 

The  philosophers   in    St.  Paul's   tinae   said,  -How   is  ' 
)  this?     Simpletons,  replied   St.  Paul,  when  you   sow  a 

grain,  you  but  cast  in  the  earth  the  seed  which  must 
produce  it.     You  do  not  sow  the  body  it  will  have.     It  ( 

is  God  who  gives  that  body  suitable  to  each  seed.  ! 

{  In  order  that  we  may  rise  in  thesame'bodies,  it  is  not 

I  necessary,  says  St.  Thomas,  that  our  bodies  bear  all  the    • 

I  same  matter  they  had  during  life.     This   matter  itself 

I  is  always  changing,  flying  away,  continually  renovated, 

<  and  "our  adult  body  preserves  almost  nothing  of  what 

I  it  was  in  infancy.     Nevertheless,  this  perpettial  renewal 


~1 


The  Lifs  of  our  Lord  J^esus  Christ. 


357 


•  does  not  indicate  that  the  body  of  the  grown-up  man 
should  be  other  than  the  body  of  his  infancy. 
Since  the  soul,  the  substantial  form  of  the  body, 
whfch  gives  it  life  and  a  determined  existence,  is 
always  the  same,  the  body  has  always  the  same  de- 
termined existence,  is  always  the  same.  Since  the  ve- 
getative force  of  the  body  resides  in  the  soul,  it  is  the 
soul  that  unites  to  the  matter  pre-existing  in  the  body 
all  that  the  body  takes  from  exterior  substances.  It  is 
the  soul  which  transforms  these  new  substances,  as- 
similates them,  makes  them  become  its  proper  mat- 
ter, its  proper  flesh.  Since  it  is  always  the  same  soul 
which  exercises  the  same  action,  it  is  always  the  same 
body  to  which  it  is  united,  despite  the  continual  waste 
and  reparations  which  many  times  in  the  course  of  life 
entirely  renew  it. 

St.  Augustine  tells  us  in  what  consists  the  miracle 
of  the  resurrection  of  bodies. 

God  will  do  then  in  an  instant  what  is  realized  in  us 
during  life  successively.  It  is  from  a  germ  hardly 
visible  deposited  in  the  maternal  womb,  it  is  from  a 
corpuscle  just  come  to  light,  that  our  actual  body,  so 
grand  and  .so  perfect,  is  formed,  with  the  addition  of 
exterior  substartces  during  the  course  of  time  by  nutri- 
tion and  respiration.  Thus  from  an  atom  of  dust,  the 
remains  of  our  bodies,  by  means  of  the  accession  of  ex- 
terior substances,  God  at  the  same  instant  will  reform 
a'  perfect  body  for  jeach  of  us.  And  as  our  actual 
body,  renewed,  ennobled,  increased  by  the  exterior 
i  substances, -is  numerically  the  same  that.it  was  at  its 
.birth,  because  it  is  formed  on  the  same  basis,  of  the 
,  same  matter,  by^a  union  of  the  same  soul,  so  by  the 
same  divine  pou'er  our  resuscitated  body  will  be  nume- 
rically the  same  as   that   we   had   at   the  beginning  of 


#>• 


The  Life  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ. 

life,  united  to  the  same  soul,  formed  of  God  on  the- 
bases  of  the  same  matter.  The  only  difference  is 
that  what  is  effected  slowly  to-day  will  be  accomplish- 
ed with  rapidity  by  the  will  of  God. 

God  will  do  for  our  bodies,  at  the  end  of  the  world, 
what  he  does  to-day  for  the  plants.  To  the  little  bud 
that  is  produced  from  the  small  grain  that  dies  he  as- 
similates exterior  substances,  he  gives  growth,  and 
forms  .a  tree  from  it.  In  the  same  way,  when  our 
bodies  no  longer  exist  except  as  a  little  dust,  the 
power  of  God  will  associate  and  will  assimilate  to  them 
other  substances,  and  will  form  a  body  from  it.  Our 
dust,  in  the  hands  of  God,  will  be  what  the  seed  is  in 
the  bowels  of  the   earth,  to  wit,  a  principle,  a   founda- 

)  tion  of  reconstruction  ;  and  it  will  be    our   very   own 

)  . 

body  that  we  have  had   during  life,  although  it  pre- 

)  serves  nothing  of  its  identity,  except  a  little  dust  and 

)  its  substantial  form — the  soul. 

As  to  the  difficulty  of  finding  again  this  original 
matter,  pulverized,  dispersed,  dissolved,  transformed 
in  so  many  ways,  and  rejoining  and  associating  it  again 
to  the  soul  to  which  it  belongs,  the  objection  is 
trivial.  God  knows  the  number  of  grains  of  dust 
which  remain  of  the  human  race,  and  knows  each  of 
them  by  its  name.  It  matters  but  little  where  this 
matter  is  and  what  transformations  it  lias  undergone. 
It  is  enough  that  it  cannot  be  annihilated. 

All  flesh,  says  St.  Paul,  is  not  the  same  flesh,  and 
the  flesh  of  man  is  one  thing  and  the  flesh  of  animals 
another.  By  virtue  of  the  natural  law  all  flesh  must 
follow  the  condition  of  its  form  ;  the  flesh  of  beasts 
perishes  wholly  with  its  form,  with  the  sensitive  soul 
which  was  united  to  it.  But  the  flesh  of  man,  being 
matter  of  an  immortal  form,  always  preserves  the  seed 


The  Life  of  our  Lord  ye  su  s   Christ.  359 

of  immortality.  Destroyed  by  fire,  cast  in  dust  to  the 
winds,  devoured,  plunged  into  the  volcano  or  into  the 
sea,  it  is  never  transformed  in  such  a  way  that  nothing 
of  it  absolutely  remains.  God  will  discover  those 
atoms  which  himself  has  made  indestructible,  and  he 
will  restore  them  to  the  soul  which  shall  have  formerlv 
animated  them.  ( 

^Finally,  let  us  remember  above  all  that  we  have  the 
Word  of  God.  Even  in  the  natural  order,  and  by  a 
greater  reason  in  the  supernatural  order,  there  is  no 
truth  that  is  not  in  some  point  incomprehensible  to  our 
limited  intelligence.  The  sight  is  troubled  when  the 
eye  is  too  intently  fixed  on  an  object,  and  we  no  longer 
see  what  we  could  see  when  we  strive  to  see  too  much.  ( 

Let  reason  serve  us  to  see  God  in  season  ;  but  it  is  with 
a  superior  organ  that  we  must  contemplate  him.  This 
is  why,  having  helped  our  reason  by  the  evidence  of 
miracles,  God  has  given  us  the  incomparable  gifts  of 
faith  and  love,  so  that  we  might  know  and  taste  him 
truly.     He  will   make  great  allowance   for  our  weak-  ) 

ness  ;  his  mercy  even  cannot  allow  for  our  pride.  He 
will  nev'er  reproach  us  for  not  having  understood  liozv 
he  does  his  works  ;  but  he  will  be  justly  terrible  to 
those  who  will  have  rejected  his  word  by  priding  them- 
selves on  comprehending  or  knowing  how  his  works 
ire  not  oi  God.  <, 


CHAPTER  III. 

CA.IPHAS — THE    BLIND    MAN   OF   JERICHO — ZACHEUS— 
MAGDALENE   AND   JUDAS. 

AMONG'  the  witnesses  of  Lazarus'  resurrection  a 
great  many  believed  in  Jesus  ;  some  others 
went  to  his  enemies  and  related  to  them  what  had 
happened.  At  this  news  the  high-priests  and  the 
Pharisees  held  a  council.  Without  injuring  Jesus, 
without  treating  him  as  a  blasphemer,  or  as  a  seducer 
of  the  people,  or  as  a  rebel,  as  they  often  had  done  in 
public,  they  say  among  themselves,  How  or  what  will 
we  decide  ?  Behold,  here  is  another  miracle  ;  if  we  let 
him  act,  every  one  will  believe  in  him,  and  there  will 
remain  no  one  with  us.  Such  was,  in  their  eyes,  the 
real  crime  of  the  Messias.  But  they  did  not  confess 
the  depth  of  their  iniquity  and  their  hatred.  Hypo- 
crites even  among  themselves,  they  formed  a  pretext 
of  public  utility.  "  The  Romans,"  they  say}  ;<  will 
come  and  destroy  our  nation  and  our  country," 

This  was  just  what  happened  to  them  for  having  put 
Jesus  to  death.  From  that  moment,  as  if  with  their 
own  hands,  they  commenced  to  form  those  formidable 
lines  of  circumvallation  whence  the  entire  city  of  Jeru- 
salem should  be  stoned  to  death  and  exterminated. 
Very  soon  they  will  ask  a  favor  of  Pilate,  and  he  will 
cive  them    Barabbas,   and    not    Jesus.     Barabbas  will 

360 


The  Life  of  otir  Lord  yesus  Christ. 


361 


be  given  to  them  ;  but  in  calling  Barabbas  they  will 
have,  without  knowing  it,  called  Titus  ;  and  Titus  will 
come.  Among  them  is  found  Caiphas,  the  very  person 
who  was  the  high-priest  of  that  year,  says  the  Scrip- 
ture, holding  up  to  contempt  by  that  word  alone  that 
supreme  sacrificial  office  now  so  degraded  and  long 
since  reprobated. 

Caiphas  is  the  first  to  utter  officially  that  decisive 
word.  "  You  understand  nothing,"  says  he  to  them  ; 
"  you  do  not  reflect  that  it  is  for  your  interest  that 
one  man  should  die  for  the  people,  so  that  the  whole 
nation  should  not  perish."  The  Gospel  adds  :  "  He 
did  not  say  this  of  himself,  but,  being  the  high-priest, 
he  prophesied  that  Jesus  should  die  for  the  nation  ;  and 
not  only  for  the  nation,  but  also  to  gather  together  the 
children  of  God  who  were  dispersed."  The  prevaricat- 
ing pontiff  wished  only  to  render  an  oracle  of  maledic- 
tion. God  turns  the  accomplishment  of  it  to  his  glory. 
Satan,  in  the  earthly  paradise,  had  provoked  the  fall 
of  our  first  parents  by  saying  to  them  :  "  Eat  of  this 
fruit,  and  you  will  be  as  gods."  Behold  how  Caiphas 
labors  to  plant  the  tree  of  the  cross  ;  and  the  man  who 
will  eat  its  fruit  will  clothe  himself  with  splendor  and 
immortality. 

After  the  words  of  Caiphas  the  Jews  think  of  no- 
thing else  but  to  put  Jesus  to  death.  At  length  he 
conceals  himself  from  their  attacks  till  the  hour  that  he 
himself  had  fixed.  The  Lord  betakes  himself  to  the 
borders  of  the  desert,  in  the  village  of  Ephrem,  the 
ancient  refuge  of  Eliseus  against  the  persecution  of 
Achab  and  Jezabel.  During  this  time  the  Jews  flock- 
ed to  Jerusalem  for  the  Pasch,  or  Passover.  They 
sought  Jesus  in  the  Temple,  and  were  astonished  that 
he  could  not   be  found.     Thev  had  not  loner  to   Avait. 


362 


The  Life  of  oar  Lord  yesus  Christ. 


Very  soon  Jesus  is  on  his  way  to  Jerusalem  to  suffer 
there  the  death  of  the  cross.  He  walks  before  his  own 
beloved  ones,  and  they  follow  him  with  a  sentiment  of 
astonishment  and  fear  on  the  route  of  proscription. 
They  dread  the  hatred  of  the  Jews,  without,  however, 
it  seems,  foreseeing  where  it  would  end. 

Jesus  considers  it  good  to  go  before  them,  whether 
to  fortify  them  at  the  moment  of  the  catastrophe  or 
that  they  remembered  that  his  sacrifice  was  free.  Then 
he  takes  aside  the  twelve,  and  foretells  them  in  a  few 
words,  clear  and  precise,  the  whole  detail  of  his  Pas- 
sion. "  Behold,  now,"  he  says  to  them,  "  we  ascend  up 
to  Jerusalem,  and  all  the  things  which  have  been  written 
of  the  Son  of  Man  shall  be  accomplished.  He  is  to  be 
delivered  up  to  the  high-priests,  to  the  scribes,  and  to 
the  senators.  They  will  condemn  him  to  death  and  will 
deliver  him  up  to  the  Gentiles  ;  they  will  buffet  him. 
they  will  spit  on  him,  they  will  scourge  him,  they  will 
put  him  to  death,  and  on  the  third  day  he  will 
arise." 

This  was  the  third  time  that  Jesus  made  this  predic- 
tion ;  but  they  did  not  understand  him  this  time  more 
than  the  others.  They  could  not,  indeed,  comprehend 
that  he  whom  they  believed  the  Son  of  God,  and  whose 
miracles  they  had  seen,  could  wish  to  yield  himself  up 
to  the  desire  of  his  enemies,  to  become  their  sport, 
their  prey,  and  to  be  put  to  death.  And  even  at  this 
very  moment  the  question  of  pre-eminence  was  raised 
among  them. 

Jesus  said  to  them  :  "The  princes  of  peoples  domi- 
neer over  them,  and  the  great  ones  of  the  world  com- 
mand with  authority.  You  must  not  use  your  authori- 
ty among  one  another  in  this  manner.  Whoever  would 
wish  to  be  great  among  you,  let  him  be  your  servant  ; 


The  L{fe  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ.  363  1 

and  whoever  would  wish  to  be  first  among  you,  let  him 
be  your  slave;  as  the  Son  of  Man  has  not  come  to  be 
served,  but  to  serve  and  to  give  his  life  forthe  redemp- 


tion of  many."  These  words  contain  the  Christian 
idea  of  power,  and  are  the  Magna  Charta  of  the  liberty 
of  Christ's  people.  A  people  is  free  when  its  legiti- 
mate interests  are  served,  but,  above  all,  when  their 
J  souls  are  respected. 

When  they  approached  Jericho,  a  blind  man  beg- 
ging, seated  on  the  roadside,  hearing  that  Jesus  was 
about  to  pass  that  way,  cried  out,  Jesus,  Son  of  David, 
have  mercy  on  me.  Those  who  preceded  our  Lord 
wished  him  to  keep  silent  ;  but  he  cried  out  the  more. 


Jesus  slackens   his  pace,  and   orders   the  blind  man  to 

)  be  led  to  him,  and  says  to  him,  "  What  do  you  wish  ?  " 

"  Lord,      replied    the    blind    man,  "  that   I    may  see." 

j  "  Then  receive  thy  sight,"  says  Jesus  unto  him  ;  "  thy 

>  faith  has   saved  thee."       The  blind  man   immediately 

saw   and  followed  the  Lord,  and  published  the  miracle 

in  the  midst  of  the  people,  who  gave  glory  to  God. 

This  is  even  now  the  state  of  the  human  race,  and 
was  the  same  before  Jesus  :  deprivation  of  the  truth 
which  it  is  begging  ;  the  humanity  of  Jesus  who  passes  ; 
the  divine  mercy  which  stops;  the  faith  that  enlightens 
and  saves.  This  blind  man  was  healed  on  the  high- 
way. "  Jesus  is  the  way."  Whoever,  says  St.  Gre- 
gory, not  enjoying  the  heavenly  light,  comes  to  believe 
in  the  Redeemer,  begins  to  be  seated  on  the  roadside. 
If  he  neglects  to  pray,  if  he  does  not  beg  for  alms,  he 


) 

) 

will  have  nothing.  Let  him  pray  and  let  him  acknow- 
ledge his  infirmity  ;  let  him  cry  from  the  bottom  of  his 
heart.  His  voice  at  first  will  arouse  the  multitude  of 
carnal  desires  and  the  tumult  of  vices;  for  they  hasten 
to  get  away  before  Jesus  comes,  and   by  temptations 


) 

) 
) 
) 

! 

( 


364  The  Life  of  our  Lord  yesus  Christ. 


the  wealth  of  the  world,  he  could  not  purchase  one  ray 
of  the  sun  with  it,  not  even  the  sight  of  the  gold. 
Lord,  you  who  are  the  light,  you  who  are  the  beauty, 
you  who  can  do  all,  grant  that  I  may  see  !  This  act 
of  thanks  of  the  blind  man  is  as  perfect  as  his  prayer. 
He  sees  and  he  follows  ;  he  practises  the  good  that  he 
knows. 

However  beautiful  this  miracle  might  be  Jericho  was 
about  to  see  one  more  extraordinary.  Like  Bethania 
it  was  going  to  behold  a  resurrection,  and  more  than  a 
resurrection — a  real  creation. 

The  place,  to  begin  with  its  name,  was  full  of  sym- 
bols. Jericho  signifies  the  moon — mutability,  mor- 
tality, figure  of  this  changing  world,  of  which  it 
has  been  declared,  Woe  to  you  !  There  were  raised 
the  bold,  defiant  ramparts  that  the  sword  of  Josue 
could  not  cut  through,  which  the  sound  of  the 
sacerdotal  trumpets  upset.  This  is  the  idolatrous 
world,  unconquerable  by  force,  but  which  the  apostolic 
preaching  will  deliver  into  the  hands  of  the  new  Josue; 


they  endeavor  to  dissipate  our  good  thoughts,  and 
to  stifle  our  prayers.  O  ye  blind  !  cry  out  more 
powerfully  ;  Jesus  will  hear  and  will  stop.  "  What  do 
you  wish  that  I  should  do  unto  you  ?  "  What  does 
the  blind  man  wish?  Jesus  knows  it  well  ;  but  through 
mercy  for  his  infirmity  he  gives  him  the  occasion  for  an 
act  of  faith  ;  through  mercy  for  the  Jews  he  obliges 
him  to  declare  his  infirmity.  And  this  mercy  for  the 
Jews  and  for  the  blind  is  a  double  mercy  for  the  world, 
because  it  obliges  it  to  believe  and  instructs  it  to  pray. 
The  blind  man  gives  an  admirable  lesson  and  makes  a 
beautiful  act  of  faith.  He  does  not  ask  what  he  could 
not  obtain  from  men  ;  he  asks  what  he  can  obtain  but 
)  from    God — light  !     Though  one   should   give  him    all 


The  Life  of  our  Lord  J'esus  Christ 


365 


and  Jesus  is  about  to  prophesy  and  give  an  outline  of 
this  victory.  Master  of  the  city,  Josue  had  destroyed 
it  by  imprecation  :  "  Cursed  be  he  before  the  Lord  who 
will  rebuild  Jericho.  Let  its  foundations  be  cast  on 
his  first-born  ;  let  its  gates  be  set  but  on  the  last  of  his 
children."  Iliel  was  this  rash  man.  Me  commenced 
to  rebuild  Jericho,  and  his  first-born  suddenly  died  ;  he 
set  its  gates,  and  he  lost  the  last  of  his  sons.  Thus 
since  Julian  the  Apostate  the  posterity  of  all  those 
who  were  anxious  to  re-establish  idolatry  were  ex- 
tinguished. So  of  all  other  heresies  and  schisms,  of 
all  restorers  of  errors  and  vices  figured  by  Jericho.  The 
anathema,  however,  was  not  materially  extended  to  the 
city.  At  the  time  of  our  Lord  it  was  populous  and 
very  commercial,  rich,  and  much  addicted  to  pleasures. 
In  the  New  Testament  it  is  the  city  whence  descended, 
departing  from  Jerusalem,  the  man  who  fell  among 
robbers  ;  it  is  there  also  the  good  Samaritan  went. 
Behold  the  good  Samaritan  himself,  who  arrives  at  the 
end  of  his  journey.  He  comes  here  to  do  a  thing 
which  he  has  declared  impossible  to  man  and  possible 
only  to  God.  Tempering  by  a  miracle  the  anathema 
which  in  the  whole  course  of  the  Gospel  hovers  over 
the  rich,  he  comes  to  show  how  the  camel  can  pass 
through  the  eye  of  a  needle. 

There  were  at  Jericho  a  good  many  publicans,  and 
their  chief  was  a  rich  man  who  was  called  Zacheus. 
Like  the  Samaritan  woman,  he  did  not  enjoy  the  best 
reputation,  but,  like  her,  he  had  reserved  without 
doubt  some  part  of  his  soul  wherein  the  cares  and 
dross  of  the  world  did  not  absolutely  domineer;  for 
he  felt  a  lively  desire  to  see  Jesus.  There  are  many 
such  souls.  There  have  been  many  in  ancient  times, 
and    there  are  many  yet,  who    do    not    love    evil    (or 


j66  The  Life  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ. 


rather,  who  arc  plunged  into  it  without  loving  it),  on 
account  of  not  being  able  to  learn  how  to  love  the 
good.  They  show  forth  a  beauty  to  which  they  be- 
long, a  grandeur  in  which  they  are  capable  of  elevat- 
ing themselves.  They  await,  they  seek,  and  they 
suffer.     In  spite  of  his  rank   among   the  publicans,  in  {> 

spite  of  his  riches  and  his  renown,  Zacheus  was  one  of 
those  souls.  It  is  difficult  not  to  believe  it,  since  he 
had  so  great  desire  of  seeing  Jesus.  And  yet  he  lived 
by  deceit.  But  he  desired  to  see  Jesus  with  his  eyes, 
says  St.  Fulgcntius — a  sign  that  he  had  already  seen 
him  in  his  mind.  Here,  says  another  interpreter,  was 
a  seed  from  which  salvation  will  bud  forth  on  him. 


Knowing,  then,  that  Jesus  was  about  to  pass,  be 
places  himself  on  the  road  ;  and  as  he  was  very  small 
in  stature,  the  throng  of  people  hindered  him  from 
seeing  him,  and  he  climbed  up  into  a  large  sycamore-tree. 
All  these  circumstances  inspire  the  fathers  with  beauti- 
ful and  charming  thoughts.  Zacheus  is  the  only  per- 
sonage in  the  Gospel  of  whom  it  has  spoken  with  this 
detail.  It  is  interpreted  as  a  praise  of  his  humility,  ' 
who  does  not  fear  to  expose  himself  to  raillery — a  mark 
of  his  ardor,  which  desired  and  knew  how  to  triumph 
over  a  corporeal  obstacle  ;  a  symbol  of  the  smallness 
of  the  chosen  people,  who  were  as  yet  so  little  through 
the  faith  ;  a  personification  of  the  grain  of  mustard- 
seed  which  will  become  a  great  church.  To  make 
himself  bigger  Zacheus  climbs  up  the  sycamore,  a  tree 
whose  fruits  are  red,  which  is  also  called  fiais  fat  it  a — 
the  foolish  fig-tree.  The  humble  is  exalted.  The 
Christian  assumes  majestic  height  by  ascending  the 
cross— the  tree  of  folly  to  the  scandal  of  the  world. 
The  fig-tree,  we  will  see  further  on,  has  a  great  signi- 
fication   in    the  Scriptures.      It  was  at  the   foot  of  this 


The  Life  of  our  Lord  jfesus  Christ.  367 

tree  that  Adam  concealed  himself  after  his  disobedi- 
ence when  the  Lord  called  him,  and  he  made  himself  ( 
an  apron  of  the  leaves  of  the  fig-tree  to  cover  his 
nakedness.  But  beyond  these  considerations  it  is  evi- 
dent that  Zacheus,  performing  such  a  noble  action, 
was  by  no  means  urged  on  by  curiosity.  Like  the 
blind  mendicant,  and  with  like  faith,  this  rich  blind 
man  wished  for  the  benediction  of  the  Incarnate  God. 

Lie  gets  a  full  and  abundant  blessing.  He  who 
searches  the  hearts  of  all  cast  a  glance  at  him.  But 
interpreters  say  that  the  look  of  Jesus  was  not  fruitless. 
Jesus  saw   that   Zacheus   loved   him  ;  and  he  himself 


loves  those  whom  he  knows  love  him  ;  and  this  is  why 
Zacheus,  in  this  regard,  received  pardon  and  grace  and 
was  called  to  eternal  salvation.  He  only  wished  to  see 
Jesus.  He  acted  nobly.  Jesus  said  to  him  :  "  Zacheus, 
come  down  ;  for  to-day  I  wish  to  remain  in  your  house 
with  you."  Zacheus  descends  in  haste,  and  whilst  he 
was  going  to  his  house  everybody  murmured  against 
Jesus.  "  Behold,"  said  the  multitude,  "  how  he  is 
going  to  tarry  in  the  house  of  this  sinner."  However, 
Zacheus,  receiving  his  guest,  said  to  him  :  "  Lord,  I 
give  to  the  poor  the  half  of  my  wealth  ;  and  if  I  have 
wronged  any  one,  whoever  it  may  be,  I  pay  him 
back  fourfold." 

He  does  not  say,  "  I  will  give,"  "  I  will  pay  back," 
but,  "  I  give,"  "  I  pay  back."  That  was  done  with  as 
much  humility  as  charity.  According  to  the  law,  lie 
who  had  stolen  a  sheep  should  render  fourfold  for  it  ; 
but  if  the  thing  stolen  was  uninjured  and  restored  by 
his  own  free-will,  it  was  sufficient  to  add  the  fifth  part 
of  its  value.  Zacheus,  then,  accuses  himself  publicly, 
condemns  himself,  and  applies  to  himself  the  greatest 
rigor  of  punishment.      He  restores  fourfold  the  riches 


368  The  Life  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ. 

badly  acquired  ;  he  deprives  himself  of  his  lawful  wealth.  I 

No  teaching  had  been  necessary,  no  word  ;  a  look  had 
taught   him   all.     As   the  sun,   touching  but   the  win-  ( 

dows  illuminates  the  interior  of  the  house,  Jesus  by  his 
presence  alone  had  illuminated  that  soul  which  was 
anxious  to  see  him.  He  infuses  into  it  humility,  pen- 
ance, and  charity.  One  is  reminded  of  the  rich  young 
man,    an    exact    observer   of  the    commandments,   to 


whom  it  was  said  :  "  One  thing  is  yet  wanting  to  you." 
This  young  rich  man  goes  away  and  forsakes  God  to 
preserve   his  great  wealth.      By  his  own  free-will,  with 


a  holy  joy,  the  publican  casts  all  patrimony  and  the 
fruits  of  usury  at  the  threshold  of  the  door  which  Jesus 
was   about  to   open,   and  by  stripping  himself  of  his 


wealth  he  humbles  himself.     Zacheus   is  truly  the  first 
voluntary  poor  man — the  host  of  Jesus,  who  accommo- 


dates him  with  the  true  feast  that  he  loves.  The 
Church  intones  the  Gospel  of  Zacheus  on  the  festival 
of  a  dedication  or  consecration  of  a  church,  because 
the  conversion  of  Zacheus  truly  represents  the  en- 
trance of  the  Lord  into  his  temples. 

And  Jesus,  entering  into  the  house  of  the  publican, 
says  :  "  Salvation  has  come  to-day  into  this  house,  be- 
cause this  man  is  a  child  of  Abraham  ;  for  the  Son  of 
God  is  come  to  seek  and  save  what  was  lost." 

"  This  house  " — Jesus  wishes  not  alone  to  convert 
the  master.  God  will  not  be  less  generous  than  the 
publican.  The  publican  throws  down  all  ;  God  gathers 
up  all.     The  whole  house  of  Zacchcus   shall  be  saved.  ( 

And  he  is  called  a  child  of  Abraham — although  that 
title,  given  to  him,  might  be  revolting  to  the  Jews — be- 
cause he  has  had  the  desires,  the  faith,  the  piety,  of 
Abraham.  Like  Abraham,  he  desired  to  see;  he  had 
seen  and  he  was  overjoyed.     Like  Abraham,    he   had 


The  Life  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ. 


369 


given  hospitality  to  the  Lord,  which  he  preferred.  As 
Abraham  offered  up  his  only  son,  so  Zacheus  sacri- 
ficed what  he  possessed.  "  And  Zacheus  opens  to  the 
Gentiles,"  says  St.  Fulgentius,  "  the  way  which  closed 
them  out  from  participating  in  the  benedictions  which 
Abraham  received."  * 

Jesus  departs  from  Jericho  the  same  day.  At  the 
o-ates  of  the  city  he  again  restores  to  sight  two  blind 
persons  who  cried  out  to  him,  like  him  whom  he  found 
oiv  entering:  "  Son  of  David,  have  pity  on  us;  grant 
that  our  eyes  may  be  opened." 

At  Bethania,  where  he  remained  six  days  before 
Pasch,  his  friend  gave  him  a  repast  at  the  house  of  Si- 
mon the  leper.  Martha  serves  at  the  table.  Lazarus 
was  one  of  the  invited  guests.  Mary  Magdalene  takes 
an  alabaster  box  containing  a  pound  of  precious  oint- 
ment ;  she  anoints  Jesus'  feet  with  it  and  dries  them 
with  her  hair.  Then,  having  taken  the  vial,  she 
poured  the  rest  of  the  perfume  on  his  head,  and  the 
whole  house  was  filled  with  this  perfume. 

But  Judas  Iscariot,  one  of  the  twelve,  angrily  re- 
marked that  she  might  have  sold  what  was  thus  poured 
out  and  lost,  and  obtained  three  hundred  pennies  for  it, 
which  should  be  given  to  the  poor.  He  advocates  the 
interest  of  the  poor  against  the  prodigality  of  Magda- 
lene.    The  Gospel  adds  that  he  did  not  care  for  the 

*We  know  through  St.  Clement,  pope,  that,  having  sold  and  distri- 
buted all  his  wealth,  Zacheus  becomes  a  disciple.  After  the  Ascen- 
sion he  attaches  himself  to  St.  Peter,  as  being  confided  to  him  by  the 
Lord  in  the  same  manner  as  the  Samaritan  had  confided  the  wounded, 
bruised  man,  found  by  him  on  the  road  to  Jericho,  and  forsaken  by 
the  priest  and  the  Lévite,  to  the  care  of  the  inn-keeper.  Ordained 
Bishop  of  Cesarea,  in  Palestine,  Zacheus  labored  there  holily  for  the 
Gospel.  A  tradition  says  that  lie  came  into  France,  and  attributes  to 
him  the  foundation  of  the  sanctuary  of  Roc-Amadour. 


The  Life  of  our  Lord  yestis  Christ. 

poor;  for  he  was  a  robber.  He  carried  the  purse,  and 
what  was  put  into  it  he  had  in  his  hands.  However, 
many  disciples  fall  into  the  same  trap.  After  the  exam- 
ple of  Judas,  they  clamor  for  the  poor  and  are  indig- 
nant against  Mary.  Jesus  orders  them  not  to  annoy  her 
any  more.  He  tells  them  that  the  poor  they  will  always 
have,  but  that  him  they  will  not  always  have,  and  that 
this  woman  has  done  well  ;  that  she  had  embalmed 
his  body  for  sepulture,  and  that  wherever  the  Gospel 
should  be  preached  her  action  would  be  lauded. 

Many  Jews  came  from  Jerusalem  to  Bethania  to  see 
Jesus  and  the  resuscitated  Lazarus.  The  chief  priests, 
knowing  that  many  believed  in  Jesus  on  account  of 
that  resurrection,  deliberated  on  putting  Lazarus  also 
to  death.  Already  men  meditated  not  only  putting 
Jesus  t3  death,  but  the  Church  also. 


BOOK    VIL 

THE  EUCHARIST. 


CHAPTER      I . 


ENTRANCE   INTO    JERUSALEM— MALEDICTION    OF    THE 
FIG-TREE. 

HAVING  arrived  at  Bethania  on  the  Sabbath, 
Jesus  passed  the  holiday  there  out  of  respect 
for  the  law.  The  next  day,  followed  by  all  his  own,  he 
set  out  on  his  journey  for  Jerusalem.  Arriving  at  the 
foot  of  Mount  Olivet,  he  sends  off  two  of  his  disciples 
before  him  into  a  village  quite  near,  where  they  would 
find  an  ass  with  her  colt,  that  had  never  yet  been 
mounted.  He  commanded  them  to  untie  the  animals 
and  lead  them,  and  that,  if  any  one  enquired  why  they 
did  so,  they  should  reply,  "  The  Master  has  need  of 
them."  In  effect,  the  owners  did  not  object  to  this 
answer.  Then  the  two  disciples  untied  the  ass  and  her 
little  one,  and  led  them  off.  And  having  thrown  their 
garments  over  the  ass,  they  made  the  Lord  sit  on 
them. 

When  it  was  known  he  was  approaching  the  city, 
a  great  multitude  came  out  of  Jerusalem  to  meet  him, 
carrying  palms  in  their  hands,  crying  out,  "  Hosanna  ! 

371 


372  The  Life  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ. 

Blessed  is  the  King  of  Israel,  who  comes  in  the  name 
of  the  Lord."  They  spread  their  garments  in  his 
way;  they  cut  down  the  green  boughs  of  the  palm- 
trees,  and  strew  the  road  with  them.  On  descending 
from  Mount  Olivet  the  disciples  formed  into  many 
groups.  Ravished  with  joy,  they  praise  God  and  pro- 
claim aloud  the  miracles  they  had  seen.  They  say  : 
;i  Blessed  is  he  who  comes  in  the  name  of  the  Lord  ; 
peace  and  glory  to  the  most  high  heavens."  The  vast 
throng  of  people  at  the  head  and  at  the  end  of  the 
cortege,  repeating  this  echo  of  the  canticle  of  Bethle- 
hem, proclaim  the  Messias  :  "  Blessed  be  the  reign  that 
comes — the  reign  of  David  our  father.  Hosanna  ! 
Long  life  to  the  Son  of  David." 

Constrained  by  the  human  condition  to  distinguish 
his  royalty  by  a  triumph  celebrated  in  human  forms, 
Jesus  wished  only  such  as  that.  He  made  it  a  counter- 
part to  the  pomps  with  which  the  masters  and  con- 
querers  of  the  world  are  surrounded.  He  selected  the 
moment  so  that  it  might  signify  also  his  sacrifice.  It 
was  on  that  very  day  they  brought  into  Jerusalem,  de- 
corated with  ribbons  and  flowers,  the  lambs  that  were 
to  be  slain  for  the  Pasch,  four  days  after.  John  the 
Baptist,  pointing  him  out  to  the  disciples,  said  to  them  : 
"  Behold  the  Lamb  of  God,  who  taketh  away  the  sins  of 
the  world."  Jesus  accomplishes  this  word,  the  first  that 
was  said  of  him  since  he  lived  in  the  flesh  ;  and  he 
floods  with  divine  light  the  prophecy  given  five  hun- 
dred years  before  by  Zacharias,  when  the  voice  of  the 
prophets  resounded  throughout  Israel  :  "  Rejoice,  ye 
daughters  of  Sion  ;  behold  your  king.  The  Just,  the 
Saviour,  comes  to  you  ;  and  he  is  mounted  on  an  ass, 
on   the  colt  of  an  ass." 

One  of  the  greatest  favors  that  God  has  bestowed 


n 


The  Life  of  oar  Lord  Jesus  Christ.  373 

)  on  man  through  Jesus  Christ  is  the  ravishing  joy  of 

}  the  mind  when    it  considers  with  the  same  regard  the 

)  tender  care  with  which  Jesus  wishes  to  make  himself 

known  as  the  exemplar  of  all  the  figures  to  arouse  and 
strengthen  faith,  and  the  majesty  which  ceases  not 
everywhere  to  shine  forth  in  the  humiliations  to  which 
the  Son  of  God  is  condemned.  Assuredly,  this  entry 
into  Jerusalem  answers  but  little  to  the  first  ideas  we 
can  form  to  ourselves  of  a  king  and  of  a  God.  How- 
ever, he  who  sent  forth  two  heralds,  like  Zacharias  and 
John  the  Baptist,  without  counting  the  other  prophets, 
can  dispense  himself  from  pomp  which  would  be  like 
the  splendor  of  Herod  and  of  Cesar. 

Poor,  undistinguished,  he  traverses  Judea  on  foot, 
living  on  alms,  acting  and  speaking,  nevertheless, 
always  and  everywhere,  as  sovereign  master  of  men  and 
as  sovereign  possessor  of  all  things.  He  calls  those 
whom  it  pleases  him  ;  he  enters  where  he  pleases  ;  he 
)  takes  from  him  who   possesses  them   the  loaves   and 

)  fishes  that  he  is  about  to  multiply,  as  he  takes  from 

the  sea  the  piece  of  silver  with  which  he  pays  the'  tri- 
bute. He  says  to  Zacheus  :  "  I  am  going  to  remain 
in  your  house  to-day."  He  empties  the  hands  of  the 
publican  as  he  fills  the  nets  of  the  fishermen.  At  the 
moment  of  entering  Jerusalem  he  gives  another  exam- 
ple of  this  sovereignty  and  of  this  dominion  which 
universally  belong  to  him.  He  sends  off  two  of  his 
disciples  to  untie  the  ass  and  her  colt,  and  he  expresses 
his  right  by  one  word,  which  encounters  no  resistance  : 
"  You  will  say  the  Master  has  need  of  them  " — not  Jesus 
nor  the  Son  of  David  ;  no  other  designation  but  the 
Lord. 

Through  his  wisdom  those  two  animals,  so  humble, 
are  profound  symbols  ;  the  action,  so  simple,  of  having 


The  Life  of  our  Lord  jfesus  Christ. 


them  led  and  riding  upon  them,  becomes  a  brilliant 
prophecy. 

In  the  Scripture  the  beast  of  burden  is  man  himself, 
in  the  state  wherein  he  has  fallen  and  whence  Jesus 
takes  him.  David,  sullied  with  adultery,  declares  that 
man,  having  forgotten  his  dignity,  and  allowed  himself 
to  become  the  slave  of  his  passions,  is  lowered  to  the 
condition  of  beasts.  The  human  race  was  in  this  con- 
dition. The  Gospel  points  out  to  us  here  those  two 
beasts  of  burden,  the  ass  and  her  young  one,  because 
there  were  in  the  religious  order  two  classes  of  people. 
The  ass  typifies  the  Jewish  people,  submitted  to  the 
hard  yoke  of  the  law  ;  the  colt  symbolizes  the  Gentiles, 
the  idolatrous  people.  Jesus  calls  it,  with  perfect  jus- 
tice, "  a  beast  that  no  one  ever  rode  upon."  For  the 
Gentiles,  strangers  to  the  Mosaic  law,  possessed  neither 
religion  nor  a  true  priesthood.  The  Lord  was  about  to 
subdue  this  intractable  beast  and  lead  him  into  the 
heavenly  Jerusalem.  There  is  the  mother  and  her 
young  one,  because,  relatively  to  God,  Judea  is  the 
mother  of  nations. 

The  two  nations,  though  they  considered  themselves 
free,  were  bound  up — the  Jews  by  their  false  justice, 
the  pagans  by  their  false  wisdom — bound  shamefully 
by  the  hands  of  hypocrisy  and  by  the  hands  of  impos- 
ture ;  bound  without,  before  the  gate,  between  the  two 
roads.  Jesus  Christ  is  the  gate,  and  the  Jews  cannot 
enter;  the  two  routes,  the  primitive  tradition  and  the 
Mosaic  law,  lead  to  salvation,  and  the  Gentiles  cannot 
tread  them.  They  a;e  tied  up  without  guide,  without 
nourishment,  without  faith,  without  hope,  awaiting  the 
load  of  new  superstitions  and  of  new  vices  which  the 
demon  wished  to  load  them  with. 

To  loose  them  the  two  disciples  are  deputed.     One 


The  Life  of  our  Lord  yesus  Chris/.  375 

alone  was  not  sufficient.  There  were  two  ranks  among 
the  apostles — the  one  more  especially  sent  to  the  Jews,  \ 

the  other  more  especially  sent  to  the  Gentiles.  "  Un- 
tie them."  The  disciples  receive  this  mission  when 
Jesus  was  about  to  enter  Jerusalem,  as  the  apostles 
will  be  sent  into  the  world  when  Jesus  will  be  about 
to  ascend  into  heaven.  "  Untie  them  ;  the  Lord  has 
need  of  them  !"  "Zacheus,  come  down  quickly;  for 
this  day  I  must  abide  in  your  house."  "  Lazarus,  come 
forth  !  "  Who  will  ever  prevent  these  words  from  re- 
sounding in  the  soul  and  being  obeyed  ? 

The  owners  of  both  animals  say  to  the  disciples  : 
"What  are  you  doing?  Why  do  you  untie  these 
beasts?"  This  is  what  the  synagogue  will  say,  and 
Cesar,  and  others  under  other  names.  The  disciples 
reply  :  "  The  Lord  has  need  of  them."  At  this  word 
resistance  ceases.  At  this  word  every  resistance, 
whatever  it  may  be  and  however  it  may  be  prolonged, 
shall  cease.  Every  church  that  is  raised  up  to  God 
on  the  earth  is  the  tomb  or  the  reliquary  of  the 
martyrs.      The   martyrs   have   received   a   mission   to 


\  unbind  the  souls  whom  the  Lord  stands  in  need  of; 

they  are  put  to  death,  and  the  souls  which  the  Lord 
wish  have  been  untied,  and  they  lead  them  to  him. 
This  simple  word,  says  Ventura,  is  a  complete  history 
and  a  wonderful  prediction  ;  it  is  the  obstinacy  of  the 
conquered  Jew  and  the  pride  of  the  subdued  pagan  ; 
the  universe  submitted  to  Jesus  Christ,  and  the  cross 
elevating  itself  on  the  ruins  of  pride  and  vanity. 

The  Pharisees  were  present  at  the  entry  of  Jesus. 
This  spectacle  could  show  them,  as  we  now  see  it,  what 
Jesus  could  have  done  with  the  people  of  Jerusalem 
and  in  all  Judea,  if  it  had  pleased  him.  They  only  saw 
what  Jesus  did  not  do,  and  they  confirmed  themselves 


376 


The  Life  of  our  lord  yesus  Christ. 


in  the  thought  that  he  would  not  resist  them.  They 
repeat  the  one  to  the  other,  considering  the  inutility 
of  their  calumnies  and  their  menaces:  "  We  have  gain- 
ed nothing.  See  how  everybody  runs  after  him."  But 
though  resolved  to  put  him  to  death,  and  aware  of  his 
meekness,  they  could  not  at  this  moment  arrest  him. 
They  content  themselves  with  saying  to  him  :  "  Master, 
then  make  your  disciples  be  silent."  Jesus  answers 
them  :  "  If  they  be  silent,  the  stones  would  cry  out." 

However,  he  knew  what  to  think  of  the  stupidity  of 
this  multitude  and  how  this  song  of  joy  would  termi- 
nate. In  the  throng,  even  among  those  who  wished 
long  life  to  the  Son  of  David,  there  were  found  those 
who  cried  out  five  days  after,  "  Crucify  him."  Seeing 
Jerusalem,  Jesus  weeps.  Very  soon  Jerusalem  will  be 
a  sepulchre  more  closely  sealed  up  than  that  of  Laza- 
rus. Never  has  mourning  for  country  put  forth  sighs 
and  lamentations  so  tender.  "  If  thou  hadst  known  in 
this  thy  day  the  things  that  are  for  thy  peace  ;  but  now 
they  are  hidden  from  thy  eyes.  For  days  will  come 
upon  thee  when  thy  enemies  will  cast  a  trench  round 
about  thee,  and  compass  thee  round,  and  straiten 
thee  on  every  side,  and  beat  thee  to  the  ground  and 
thy  children  who  are  in  thee  ;  and  they  will  not  leave 
in  thee  a  stone  upon  a  stone,  because  thou  hast  not 
known  the  time  of  thy  visitation." 

Jesus  goes  up  to  the  Temple,  and,  after  having  view- 
ed all  as  a  master  who  inspects  his  house,  he  returns  to 
Bethania,  where  he  passed  the  night. 

The  next  day's  journey  was  marked  at  the  outset  by 
an  act  strange  in  appearance  and  of  little  importance, 
but  of  great  meaning.  As  Jesus  returned  from  Beth- 
ania to  Jerusalem,  he  was  hungry,  and  he  approached  a 
fig-tree  that  was  on  the  wayside  to  see  if  he  could  find 


The  Life  of  our  Lord  ycsus  Christ.  377 

( 

any  fruit  on  it  ;  and  he  finds  but  leaves,  because  it  was 


not  the  time  for  figs.     "  May  fruit  never  grow  on  thee  I 

henceforward."  The  disciples  heard  this.  Immediately 
the  fig-tree  withered,  even  to  its  very  roots.  The  dis- 
ciples did  not  remark  it  ;  but  the  next  day,  passing  by 
this   tree,  they  were  seized  with  astonishment.      Peter  ( 

remembered  what  had  happened  the  evening  before, 
and  said  to  Jesus  :  "  Master,  see  the  fig-tree  you  cursed  ; 
it  has  become  quite  withered." 

It  was  in  the  morning,  before  the  hour  of  repast.  The 
hunger  he  wished  to  feel  to  mark  his  humanity  was 
not  natural.  It  was  not  the  season  of  figs.  Why  did 
he  seek  the  fruit  where  he  knew  he  could  find  none, 
and  what  reason  had  he  to  curse  a  tree  because  it  did 
not  bear  fruit  at  a  time  it  ought  not  to  bear  any  ?  This 
explains  the  astonishment  of  the  disciples.  Peter,  to 
whom  belonged  the  privilege  of  observing,  remember- 
ing, and  enquiring,  makes  a  remark  that  solicits  expla- 
nation ;  but  Jesus,  without  explaining  the  mystery, 
contents  himself  by  informing  the  apostles  that  he  per- 
formed this  miracle  to  impart  to  them  the  faith.  He 
wished  to  fortify  them  against  the  terrors  which  the 
menaces  of  the  synagogue  had  excited  in  them,  of 
whom  this  fig-tree  was  a  perfect  image  ;  and  he  gave 
them  to  understand,  by  this  new  proof  of  his  power, 
everywhere  sovereign,  that  whatever  was  about  to 
happen  happened  but  by  his  permission. 

It  was  necessary,  also,  that  Jesus  should  make  the 
dreadful  power  of  his  justice  shine  forth  ;  and  we  see 
at  the  same  time,  says  St.  Hilary,  how  great  was  his 
goodness,  thus  showing  himself  God  only  by  his  mer- 
cies. He  has  written  the  proofs  of  it  on  human 
bodies,  healing  the  maladies  of  this  life  to  proclaim  the 
salvation  of  souls.      Now,  as  he  must  give  an  example 


373 


The  Life  of  our  Lord  yesus  Christ. 


of  his  severity  towards  this  rebellious  people,  he  does 
not  crush  a  man  ;  he  causes  a  shrub  to  wither.  He  has 
chosen  the  fig-tree,  in  order  that  the  miracle  might  be 
more  evident,  because  of  the  very  abundant  sap  of  this 
tree,  that  one  word  alone  causes  to  wither  so  soon. 

Besides,  the  miracle  was  already  explained  in  advance 
by  the  parable  of  the  barren  fig-tree.  The  owner  of  the 
fig-tree  planted  it  in  his  vineyard,  and,  finding  no  fruit 
on  it,  says  to  the  vine-dresser,  "  Behold,  for  three  years  I 
have  sought  fruit  from  this  fig-tree  without  finding  any 
on  it  ;  cut  it  down,  since  it  cumbers  the  ground."  But 
the  vine-dresser  intercedes:  "  Lord,  let  it  yet  stand  this 
year.  I  will  dig  around  it.  I  will  put  dung  on  it,  and 
so  it  will  bear  fruit,  if  you  do  not  cut  it  down  too 
soon." 

Those  three  years  are  those  of  the  preaching  of  our 
Lord.  The  fig-tree  uselessly  cherished  by  the  water- 
ing of  the  divine  blood  and  the  blood  of  the  martyrs 
who  perished  during  the  first  persecution  had  been  cut 
down  according  to  the  sentence  of  the  Master,  but 
after  the  reprieve  obtained  by  the  vine-dresser.  The 
cursed  fig-tree  did  not  wither  instantly  under  the  eyes 
of  the  disciples.  Between  the  malediction  and  its 
total  effect  a  whole  day  rolls  by,  and  some  time  will 
pass  away  between  the  ruin  of  Jerusalem  and  the 
crime  by  which  she  herself  pronounced  the  decree  of 
her  ruin. 

Many  passages  of  the  prophets  point  out  how  much 
this  figure  of  the  fig-tree  was  commonly  employed  to 
represent  the  Jewish  nation  :  "  Like  the  bunches  of 
grapes  in  the  desert,  like  the  first  fruits  that  appear  on 
the  top  of  the  fig-tree,  thus  have  I  loved  the  fathers  of 
Israel."  "  I  will  send  the  sword  among  them,  and 
they  will  become  like  bad  figs  that  nobody  can  eat,  be- 


) 

ment. 


The  malediction  of  the  fig-tree  affords,  again,  a  great 
moral  teaching.  This  tree,  which  had  but  leaves  and 
no  fruit,  is  the  hypocrisy  which  has  but  words,  but 
the  appearance  of  sanctity;  while  the  saints  bear  both 
the  leaves  of  the  word,  and  the  flower  of  virtues,  and 
the  fruit  of  works.  The  hypocrite  also  is  planted  out- 
side of  the  true  way— along  the  public  highway,  where 
the  seed  does  not  spring  up  ;  among  the  stones,  where 
the  germ  takes  no  root  ;  among  the  thorns,  where  the 
fruit"  does  not  ripen.  Jesus  cursed  this  tree,  because 
he  hates  hypocrites  ;  and  his  malediction  withered  the 
fig-tree,  even  to  its  very  roots,  to  show  that  words  with- 
out works  are  worthless  and  wholly  unfruitful.  In  this 
sense  the  malediction  of  the  fig-tree  is  the  confirma- 
tion and  summary  of  evangelical  morality.  It  is  a 
parable  in  action,  says  the  Venerable  Bede  ;  as  Jesus 
speaks,  so  he  acts.  Neither  Jew  nor  any  one  else  will 
be  saved  by  plausible  expressions,  unless  good  works 
accompany  them. 

The  same  day  Jesus  drove  once  more  the  traffickers 
out  of  the  Temple.     The  high-priests  and  the  scribes, 


The  Life  of  our  Lord  jfesi.-s   Christ.  379 

cause  they  are  good  for  nothing."  But  here  is  a  pro- 
phecy of  the  miracle  itself:  "  Woe  to  me,  because  I 
have  not  found  some  of  those  figs  first  ripe  which  my 
soul  has  longed  for.  There  is  no  longer  any  holy  one 
to  be  found  on  the  earth.  There  is  none  who  has  a 
clean  heart."  That  is  indeed  what  Jesus  desired  when 
j  he  came  to  look  for  figs  before  the  time.     He  knew 

J  that  the   Jews  would   not  believe  in  him    until    after 

having  been  deceived  by  Antichrist  ;  that  the  fig-tree 
would  yield  fruit  only  at  the  extreme  end  of  the  world  ; 
and,  nevertheless,  he  comes  because  his  soul  loves 
them,  because  he  wished  them  to  avoid  their  punish- 


38o 


The  Life  of  our  Lord  jfcsus   Christ. 


who  authorized  this  commerce,  so  often  fraudulent,  with 
the  traffickers,  and  who  profited  by  them,  felt  their 
wrath  boiling  up;  but  they  dared. undertake  nothing 
against  Jesus,  because  of  the  admiration  the  people 
had  for  his  doctrine,  and  of  the  concourse  of  sick  and 
infirm  people  who  sought  him  and  were  healed.  The 
children  themselves,  repeating  what  they  everywhere 
heard,  cried  out  in  the  Temple  :  "  Hosanna  to  the  Son 
of  David  !  "  The  Pharisees  said  to  Jesus  :  "  Do  you 
hear  ?  "  "  Yes,"  he  replied  ;  "  it  is  written  :  You  have 
received  praises  from  the  mouth  of  children." 


CHAPTER  II. 


THE  LAST  JOURNEY  TO  THE  TEMPLE. 

THE  next  day  Jesus,  teaching  in  the  Temple,  says 
to  the  disciples  :  ''The  hour  has  come  that  the 
Son  of  Man  must  be  glorified."  This  hour  was  that 
of  his  death,  which  he  indicated  by  adding:  "  Truly,  I 
say  to  you,  if  the  grain  of  wheat  cast  into  the  turned- 
up  soil  dies  not,  it  remains  alone;  but  if  it  dies  there, 
it  will  bear  a  great  fruit.  He  who  loves  his  life  shall 
lose  it  ;  but  he  who  hates  his  life  in  this  wfcrld  shall  pre- 
serve it  for  eternal  life." 

Nevertheless,  the  Son  of  God  at  the  approach  of 
death  allowed  human  nature  to  make  him  feel  his 
feebleness.  He  had,  as  it  were,  a  foretaste  of  the 
agony.  Then  he  heaved  a  deep  sigh.  "  My  soul  is 
troubled;  what  shall  I  say?  My  Father,  deliver  me 
from  that  hour.  But  it  is  for  that  hour  I  am  come. 
My  Father,  glorify  your  name  !  "  And  a  voice  is  heard 
from  heaven  like  a  clap  of  thunder  :  "  I  have  glorified 
him,  and  I  shall  still  glorify  him."  Many  said  :  "  It  is 
an  angel  that  speaks  to  him."  He  replied:  "  It  is  not 
for  me,  it  is  for  you,  this  voice  has  been  made  heard. 
Now  the  prince  of  this  world  is  about  to  be  driven  out. 
When  I  shall  be  raised  up  from  the  earth,  I  shall  draw 
all  things  to  myself."  An  expression  from  the  multi- 
tude  strikes  the  ear  of  Jesus  :    "  We  know  that   the 

38i 


382  The  Life  of  our  Lord  ye  sus  Christ. 

Christ  must  dwell  for  ever.  Why,  then,  do  you  tell 
us  'it  is  necessary  that  the  Son  of  Man  is  to  be  raised 
on  high  '  ?     Who  is  the  Son  of  Man  ?  " 

The  eternal  Christ  was  before  them.  They  had  inter- 
rogated him  some  hours  before,  but  they  desired  neither 
his  reign  nor  his  cross  ;  they  wished  his  glory,  predicted  ) 

by  the  prophets,  and  not  his  sufferings,  equally  predict-  } 

ed.  Jesus,  who  had  so  often  instructed  them  on  this 
subject,  replied  to  them  but  a  few  words  as  a  last  les- 
son, but  more  suitable  to  sustain  their  faith  than  to  re- 
strain their  infidelity.  He  said  to  them  :  "  You  have 
yet  light  for  a  little  while.  Walk  whilst  you  have  the 
light,  lest  the  night  come  upon  you.  He  who  walks 
in  darkness  knows  not  where  he  is  going.  Whilst  you 
have  the  light  believe  in  the  light,  so  that  you  may  be- 
come the  children  of  light." 

( 

In  spite  of  so   many  miracles,  which   they   did   not 

deny,  the  Jews  did  not  believe.  It  was  the  blindness 
predicted  by  Isaias  ;  and  those  who  believed  did  not 
declare  themselves  his  disciples,  lest  they  might  be 
driven  from  the  synagogue.  They  preferred  the  glory 
which  they  receive  from  men  to  that  they  receive  from 
God.  This  is  the  everlasting  trait  of  baseness  and  of 
human  folly.  How  many  believe  from  the  bottom  of 
their  hearts  whom  the  fear  or  love   of  men's  opinion  i 

makes  pretenders  of  unbelief! 

Yet  Jesus  ceases  not  to  open   up   the  way  to  them  ( 

and  to  lavish  on  them  the  divine  light.  To  the  timid 
he  said  :    "  He  who  believes  in  me,  it  is  not  in   me  he  ( 

believes,  but  in  him  who  has  sent   me  ;    and  he  who 

r 

sees  me  sees  him  who  has  sent  me."  To  the  incredu- 
lous he  said  :  "  He  who  despises  me  and  who  receives 
not  my  words,  he  is  already  judged.  The  Word  itself 
that  I  have  announced  will  judge  him  on  the  last  day,  ( 

( 


^J 


The  Life  of  our  Lord  yesus  Christ.  385 

because  my  Father  himself  has  prescribed  what  I  say, 
and  what  he  ordains  is  eternal  life.  Those  things, 
therefore,  which  I  speak,  I  speak  them  as  my  Father 
has  spoken  them." 

Feigning  not  to  hear,  the  high-priests,  the  scribes, 
and  some  of  the  ancients  challenge  him  in  the  presence 
of  the  people  :  "  Those  things  you  do — by  what  au- 
thority do  you  do  them  ?  "  Already  they  had  put  a 
similar  question  to  him.  And  to  his  response  they  re- 
plied by  threatening  him  and  stoning  him.  Neverthe- 
less, Jesus  promises  to  satisfy  their  enquiries  when  they 
themselves  would  have  told  him  whether  they  believ- 
ed the  baptism  of  John  was  from  heaven  or  from  men. 
They  were  embarrassed,  fearing  the  argument  of  Jesus 
if  they  acknowledged  the  mission  of  John  the  Baptist, 
fearing  the  wrath  of  the  people  if  they  denied  it.  They 
resolved,  then,  to  reply  that  they  knew  not  whence 
this  baptism  came.  And  Jesus  said  to  them  :  "  Nei- 
ther shall  I  tell  you  by  what  authority  I  do  those 
things."  But  he  did  not  wish  to  discontinue  speaking 
without  chastising  those  impostors  who  affected  jus- 
tice outwardly  and  hated  it  from  their  inmost  souls. 
"  Verily,"  said  he  to  them,  "  the  tax-gatherers  and 
harlots  shall  enter  the  kingdom  of  heaven  before  you. 
For  John  came  to  you  in  the  way  of  justice,  and  you 
did  not  believe  in  him  ;  but  tax-gatherers  and  harlots 
believed  him,  and  you,  seeing  them  converted,  have 
not  believed." 

He  does  not  stop  there.  In  order  to  show  them 
more  clearly  the  consequences  of  rejecting  the  truth, 
and  to  make  them  confess  the  equity  of  the  chastise- 
ments they  were  about  to  incur,  he  proposed  to  them 
the  menacing  parable  of  the  vine-growers. 

From  a  far-off  country  where   he  dwelt  a  rich  lord 


3S4  The  Life  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ. 

sent  off  one  of  his  servants  to  receive  the  fruits  of  his 
vineyard.  The  vine-dressers  or  laborers  beat  him  and 
sent  him  back  with  hands  empty.     The  lord  or  master  j 

sent  a  second  one  to  them  :  they  bruised  and  wounded 
him.  He  sends  the  third,  and  they  put  him  to  death.  He 
sent  others,  who  were  treated  in  the  same  way.  At 
last  the  lord  and  master  sent  his  only  and  well-beloved 
son,  thinking  they  would  receive  him  with  respect  ;  but, 
on  the  contrary,  they  said  the  one  to  the  other: 
"  This  one  is  the  heir  ;  let  us  kill  him,  and  we  will  pos- 
sess the  inheritance."  They  cast  him  out  of  the  vine- 
yard and  put  him  to  death.  "  But,"  said  Jesus,  address- 
ing himself  to  the  Jews,  "  when  the  master  of  the 
vineyard  shall  come  himself,  what  will  he  do  with  those 
laborers?"  The  Jews  answered:  "He  will  make 
those  miserable  wretches  perish,  and  he  will  let  out  his 
vineyard  to  others  who  will  give  him  the  fruits  of  it." 
"Yes,"  replied  Jesus,  "  he  will  come  and  he  will  de- 
stroy those  miserable  wretches,  and  he  will  place  his 
vineyard  in  the  hands  of  others."  ( 

The  majesty  that   appeared    in   him  as    he    uttered  < 

these  words  made  them  without  doubt  comprehend 
the  force  of  the  decree  they  themselves  had  pro- 
nounced against  those  who,  after  having  hunted 
down  and  killed  the  prophets,  were  prepared  to  put 
to  death  the  only  Son.  Seized  with  terror,  they  cried 
out  :  "  God  forbid."  But  Jesus,  looking  on  them, 
asked  them  if  they  were  ignorant  of  what  was  written  ; 
and  he  cites  for  them  this  verse  of  the  Scripture,  which 
all  the  Jews  understood  of  the  Messias  :  "  The  stone 
which  the  builders  have  rejected   has  become  the  cor- 


ner-stone of  the  building.     It  is  the  work  of  the  Lord, 

i 
and  we  will  admire  it."     Jesus  is  elsewhere   called   the 

foundation-stone  and  the  key  of  the  arch.     He  is  the 


The  Life  of  our  Lord  yesits  Christ.  385 

corner-stone,  because  he  joins  together  tiro  walls 
hitherto  divided — two  peoples,  the  Jews  and  the  Gen- 
tiles. He  adds  :  "  The  kingdom  of  God  shall  be  taken 
away  from  you  and  shall  be  given  to  others,  who  shall 
produce  fruit  from  it  ;  and  this  corner-stone,  whoever 
will  fall  on  it  shall  be  dashed  to  pieces,  and  he  on 
whom  it  shall  fall  shall  be  crushed  to  atoms." 

The  Pharisees  well  understood  that  he  spoke  of 
themselves;  but  the  fear  of  the  people  held  them  re- 
spectful.     They    found    themselves    quite    unable    to 


disengage  this  people  from  Jesus,  before  whom 
and  with  whom  he  reasoned  without  even  flatterine 
them  ;  they  undertake  a  second  time  to  compromise 
him  on  a  political  question.  Then  they  came  loudly 
proclaiming  his  courageous  sincerity,  and  demanding 
of  him  if  it  was  permitted  or  not  to  pay  tribute  to 
Cesar.  t 

By  the  importance  that  this  question  has  had  at  all 
times  in  the  eyes  of  subjects  and  princes  one  can 
easily  judge  of  its  gravity  under  this   double    relation  ( 

among  a  conquered  and   furious    people.       According 

to    the    response    Jesus    was    going    to    make    them, 

) 


the  Pharisees  prepared  to  show  themselves  either 
patriots  or  Cesareans,  and  to  decry  him  among  the 
people  or  to  denounce  him   to   the   representative   of  \ 

the  emperor.  "  Hypocrites  !  why  do  you  seek  to  en- 
trap me  ?  "  However,  he  replies  to  their  question, 
without  doubt   to   confound  them,  but  more  so  to  in-  \ 

struct  the  Church.  Having  commanded  them  to  pre- 
sent to  him  the  coin  of  tribute,  and  having  made  them 
declare  whose  image  it  bore,  "  Render  to  Cesar  what 
is  Cesar's,"  he  replied,  "  and  to  God  what  is  God's." 
A  thousand  doctors  have  risen  up  who  pretend  to 
prove   by  these  words  that  the  Church  must  render  to 


~86  The  Life  of  our  Lord  yesus  Christ.  ( 

Cesar  what  belongs  to  God.    But  what  does  it  matter?  \ 

The  Church    has  understood  the  voice    of    the    Mas- 

ter.  j 

As  to  the  Pharisees — who  expected  that  he  would 
side  with  the  rebellious  party,  as  they  were  themselves  j 

secretly  rebels,  so  that  they  might  denounce  him  to  the 
governor,  or,   if  he   declared   himself  for  the  party  in  \ 

power  to  denounce  him  to  the  people — they  found  out  \ 

once  more  that  they  could  neither  blind  his  justice  nor  ( 

take  advantage  of  his  prudence.  Their  conspiracy  does 
not  alter  his  serenity.  He  continues  to  instruct  his 
disciples,  the  people,  and  those  wicked  wretches  them-  \ 

selves.     He  maintains  the   dogma  of  the  resurrection  ; 

against  the  Sadducees,  renews  his  teachings  on  the 
knowledge  and  love  of  God,  on  worship  and  prayer, 
and  insists  on  charity.     This  was  his  last  will  he  thus  I 

made,  and  for  more  than  eighteen  centuries  human 
intelligence,  sounding  the  depth  of  the  words  he  pro- 
nounced during  those  last  days,  has  found  in  them  its 

)  inexhaustible  food.  ( 

A  Pharisee  demanded  of  him  which  is  the  greatest 
commandment.  He  replies:  "The  Lord  your  God  is 
the  only  God,  and  you  shall  love  the  Lord  your  God 
with  your  whole  heart,  with  your  whole  soul,  with  your 
whole   strength.      This  is  the  greatest  commandment  j 

and  the  first.     But  there   is  another  like  to  the  first  :  j 

You  shall  love  your  neighbor  as  yourself.  There  is 
no  other  commandment  greater  than  these  two.  The 
whole  law  and  the  prophets  reduce  themselves  to  these 
two  precepts."  The  Pharisee  praised  this  response, 
and  added  that  in  effect  to  love  our  neighbor  is  a  thing 
greater  than  all  the  holocausts  and  sacrifices.  Jesus 
said  to  him  :  "  You  are  not  far  from  the  kingdom  of 

\  God." 


The  Life  of  our  Lord  Jïsus  Christ.  387  ( 

This  was  the  last  time  the  Pharisees,  always  conquer- 
ed by  his  knowledge  and  his  wisdom,  dared  to  inter- 
rogate him  ;  but  in  his  turn  he  interrogated  them. 
"  What  do  you  think,"  said  he  to  them,  "  of  the  Christ  ?  ( 

Whose    Son    is    he?"       They    answered,     "David's."  ( 

"  How  comes    it,   then,"    replied   Jesus,   "  that    David  ( 

himself,  inspired  by  the  Holy  Ghost,  calls  him  his 
Lord  ?  For  it  is  written  in  the  Book  of  Psalms  :  The 
Lord  has  said  to  my  Lord,  Sit  thou  at  my  right  hand. 
If  David  called  him  Lord,  how,  then,  is  he  the  Son  of 

)              David?"     They  were  so  stupefied  they  could  not  an- 
)  u:~ 


swer  him. 

Hating  Jesus  as  they  did,  they  could  not  ignore  any 
public  detail  of  his  life  and  of  his  origin.  They  knew 
very  well  that  he  was  the  Son  of  David,  and  they  did 
not  contest  it  ;  but,  not  wishing  to  acknowledge  him 
for  the  Messias,  they  did  not  wish  to  so  comprehend  it, 
and  still  less  to  avow   that,  as   God,  he  was  the  Lord 

( 


of  David  himself,  from  whom  he  came  by  a  natural 
generation.  Thus  their  incredulity  and  their  hatred 
have  sprung  the  one  from  the  other,  and  both  are 
reciprocally  augmented.  c 

Jesus  pours  out  his  indignation  against  those  arro- 
gant hypocrites  who  deceived  the  people,  thought  to 
deceive  God,  and  wished  to  deceive  themselves.  He 
flings  at  them  those  dreadful  anathemas  under  which 
their  name  is  heavily  burdened  and  becomes  execrable  : 
"Woe  to  you,  because  you  close  the  kingdom  of  hea- 
ven against  men,  and  you  will  not  enter  it,  and  you  will 
not  let  those  who  present  themselves  enter.  .  .  . 
Woe  to  you  who  pay  the  tithe  of  mint,  of  rue,  and  of 
every  herb,  whilst  you  neglect  justice,  mercy,  and 
faith."  He  does  not  forget  any  trait  of  their  pride,  of 
their  stubbornness,  of  their  avarice,  nor  the  crimes  with 


r 


the  preceding  malediction  against  those  who  paid  the 
tithe  on  the  most  trivial  thing — not  because  they  paid 


388  The  Life  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ. 

which  they  would  be  loaded  in  the  future  as  persecu- 
tors of  the  Church.  "  Act,  and  fill  up  the  measure,  ye 
serpents,  brood  of  vipers  !  How  will  ye  flee  from  the 
judgment  of  hell?  I  am  about  to  send  you  prophets, 
wise  men,  and  interpreters  of  the  law.  Some  of  them 
you  will  put  to  death  and  crucify  ;  some  of  them  you 
will  scourge  in  the  synagogue  and  persecute  from  city 
to  city,  that  upon  you  may  come  all  the  just  blood 
that  hath  been  shed  on  the  earth." 

But  as  the  vehemence  of  this  discourse  was  only  the 

bursting  forth  of  his'  tenderness,  he  does  not  terminate 

it  without  expressing  commiseration  for  the  chastise- 

)  ment  of  Jerusalem  with  which  his  love  inspired   him — 

Jerusalem,  the  miserable  accomplice  of  those  wicked   • 

wretches  :  "  lerusalem,  Jerusalem  !  thou  that  killest  the 

)  \ 

prophets  and  stonest  them  that  are  sent  to  thee,  how  ( 

often  would  I  have  gathered  together  thy  children,  as 

the  hen  doth  gather  her  chickens  under  her  wings,  and 

thou  wouldst  not  !      Behold,  your  house  shall  be  left  to 

you  desolate.     For  I  say  to  you,  you  shall  not  see  me  ) 

henceforward  till  you  say,  Blessed  is  he  who  cometh  in  ) 

the  name  of  the  Lord."  ? 

After  having   spoken  Jesu?   seats  himself   opposite  ) 

the  treasury,  where  the  worshippers  of  the  Temple  cast 

in  their  offerings.     The    rich   gave   a   good  deal  ;  and 

there  came  a  poor  widow,  who  threw  in  two  pieces  of 

money  of  the  least  value.     This   sight  consoled  him. 

He  called  his  disciples.     "  See,"  said  he  to  them,  "  this 

poor  widow  has  given  more  than  all  the  rest.     For  the 

others  have  thrown  in  of  their  abundance  ;  but  this  poor 

widow  cast  in  of  her  indigence.     She  has  given  all  that 

she  had  to  live  on."     This  is  a  divine  commentary  on 


~1 


The  Life  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ.  389 

it,  but  on  account  of  ostentation  and  because  they  for- 
got charity. 

This  was  the  last  public  instruction  of  Jesus  and  the 
last  time  he  appeared  in  the  Temple.  He  left  it  to 
enter  it  no  more.  When  outside,  his  disciples  wished 
him  to  admire  the  beauty  of  the  edifice.  Perhaps  they 
hoped  to  induce  him  to  revoke  the  condemnation  with 
which  he  had  struck  it,  and  which  seemed  contained  in 
those  words  :  "  Behold,  your  house  will  be  left  deso- 
late." They  then  dwelt  on  the  interior  magnificence 
of  the  Temple  and  the  solidity  of  its  structure.  "  See, 
Master,"  said  one  of  them,  "  what  stones,  what  foun- 
dations !  "  "  Indeed,"  replies  the  Master,  "  of  all  those 
grand  buildings  you  behold  there  a  time  will  come 
when  astone  will  not  rest  on  a  stone."     The  decree  was  ( 

definite.  Forty  years  after  the  Romans  demolished 
the  Temple.  Four  centuries  after  the  workers  whom 
Julian  the  Apostate  had  sent  to   rebuild  it  rooted  up 


)  its  foundations. 

Arrived  at  the  Mount  of  Olives,  Jesus  seated  him- 
self, facing  the  Temple,  and  described  to  the  apostles, 
who  besought  him  to  do  so,  the  signs  that  would  precede 
the  destruction  of  Jerusalem  and  the  end  of  the  world. 
The  apostles  believed  that  both  these  catastrophes 
would  occur  nearly  at  the  same  time.  He  did  not 
mark  out  their  precise  epoch  to  them,  as  they  had  de- 
sired it,  nor  the  distinction,  confining  himself  to  say 
what  was  necessary  to  instruct  and  strengthen  the 
Church  in  such  a  manner  that  she  would  remain  firm, 
unshaken,  during  her  persecutions,  and  vigilant  during 
peace.  It  was  in  accord  with  his  divinity  to  predict 
with  his  mercy,  to  warn  and  to  point  out  certain  signs 
with  his  wisdom  ;  to  leave  them  ignorant  of  the  hour 
and    of   its   proximity,   so    that    men,   always    expect- 


The  Life  of  our  Lord  yesus  Christ 


ing  it,  should  be  always  prepared.  This  vigilance, 
necessary  at  all  times  and  for  every  one  in  particular 
(since  death  is  for  each  one  the  end  of  the  world),  is 
recommended  by  the  two  parables  of  the  servants  who 
expected  their  master,  and  of  the  virgins  who  waited 
for  the  bridegroom.  The  teaching  of  both  instructs  us 
to  watch  and  pray. 

The  third  parable,  reviewing  the  teaching  already 
given,  teaches  the  apostles  that  evangelical  labor — that 
is  to  say,  that  growth  of  good  in  ourselves  and  that 
zeal  to  procure  it  in  others — ought  to  be  the  result  of 
vigilance  and  prayer.  The  Master  will  not  only  ask 
back  again  what  he  has  given,  but  the  fruit  of  what  he 
has  given  ;  and  the  useless  and  unfaithful  servant  will 
be  cast  into  exterior  darkness. 

Jesus  resumed  and  terminated  this  discourse  by  pre- 
senting to  the  disciples  a  picture  of  the  last  judgment. 
The  decisive  importance  he  attributes  to  works  of 
mercy,  daughters  of  faith,  in  the  motives  of  that  sen- 
tence which  will  regulate  for  ever  the  lot  of  every  man 
is  testimony  of  his  tenderness  for  the  vast  multitude 
of  little  ones  and  of  the  unfortunate,  till  now  pitilessly 
and  unmercifully  down- trodden.  The  words  which 
they  are  about  to  listen  to  will  be  one  of  the  grand 
springs  of  Christian  society. 

"  When  the  Son  of  Man  will  come  in  his  majesty, 
accompanied  by  all  his  angels,  then  he  will  sit  on  the 
throne  of  his  glory  ;  and,  all  nations  being  assembled 
before  him,  he  will  make  a  separation  as  the  shepherd 
separates  the  sheep  from  the  goats.  He  will  place  the 
sheep  on  his  right  hand  and  the  goats  on  his  left. 
Then  the  King  will  say  to  those  on  his  right  hand: 
Come,  blessed  of  my  Father,  possess  the  kingdom 
which  has   been  prepared  for  you  from  the  foundation 


( 


The  Life  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ.  39 1 


of  the  world.  Because  I  was  hungry,  and  you  gave 
me  to  eat  ;  I  was  thirsty,  and  you  gave  me  to  drink; 
I  was  houseless,  and  you  sheltered  me  ;  I  was  naked, 
and  you  clothed  me  ;  I  was  sick,  and  you  came  to 
see  me  ;  I  was  in  prison,  and  you  visited  me.  The 
just  will  say  to  him  :  Lord,  when  did  we  see  you 
hungry,  and  we  gave  you  to  eat  ;  thirsty,  and  we  gave 
you  to  drink  ;  houseless,  and  we  sheltered  you  ; 
naked,  and  we  clothed  you  ;  sick  or  in  prison,  and 
we  visited  you  ?  And  the  King  will  answer  them  : 
Truly,  as  often  as  you  rendered  these  services  to 
one  of  the  least  of  my  brothers  whom  you  see,  so 
often  have  you  rendered  them  to  me.  Then  the  King 
will  say  to  those  on  his  left  hand  :  Depart  from  me,  ye 
j  cursed  ;   go  into  everlasting   fire  which  has   been   pre- 

pared for  the  devil  and  his  angels.     For  I  was  hungry, 


and  you  did  not  give  me  to  eat  ;  I  was  thirsty,  and 
you  did  not  give  me  to  drink  ;  I  was  homeless,  and 
you  did  not  shelter  me  ;  I  was  naked,  and  you  did  not 
clothe  me  ;  I  was  in  prison,  I  was  sick,  and  you  did 
not  visit  me.  Then  they  will  say  to  him  :  Lord,  when 
did  we  see  you  hungry,  houseless,  naked,  sick,  or  in 
prison,  and  we  neglected  to  assist  you?  Truly,  as 
often  as  you  have  omitted  to  do  it  to  one  of  these 
little  ones  you  have  refused  it  to  me.  After  which 
these  will  enter  into  everlasting  punishment  and  the 
just  into  eternal  life." 

Already  on  the  very  threshold  of  death,  Jesus  pro- 
nounces these  words  as  a  royal  legacy  which  he  made 
for  the  duration  of  ages  to  the  multitude  of  the  poor, 
to  the  indigent,  to  the  captive,  and  to  the  abandoned. 
Moses,  striking  the  rock,  caused  the  living  waters  to 
gush  out  of  it  ;  the  word  of  Jesus,  penetrating  into  the 
human  heart,  has  made  an  inexhaustible  flood  of  charity 


I 


-92  The  Life  cf  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ. 


to  well  from  it.     A  twofold  grace  besides,  it  has  saved 
sinners  as  well  as  succored  the  afflicted. 

Jesus  then  said  to  his  disciples  :  "  You  know  that 
after  two  days  the  Passover  will  be  celebrated,  and  that 
the  Son  of  Man  shall  be  delivered  up  to  be  crucified." 

This  occurred  on  Friday  evening.  The  day  follow- 
ing Tesus  remained  on  the  mountain,  as  if  in  a  sort  of 
retreat,  to  prepare  himself  for  death.  This  same  day 
the  high-priests,  the  doctors  of  the  law,  and  the 
ancients  assembled  in  council,  deliberating  again  how 
they  could  get  rid  of  him.  They  resolved  to  wait  no 
longer.  But  the  sentiment  of  the  people  always  an- 
noyed them.  They  thought  the  arrest  of  Jesus  would 
cause  or  provoke  a  mutiny  or  commotion,  and  that 
they  could  not  prudently  seize  him  till  after  the  festi- 
val, when  the  throng  of  strangers  would  have  left  the 
city.  A  succor  that  doubtless  they  did  not  expect 
caused  them  to  hasten  their  nefarious  designs.  Judas 
Iscariot,  one  of  the  twelve  apostles,  who  probably  was 
near  to  Jesus  the  day  before,  hearing  his  instructions, 
presented  himself  to  the  chief  priests  to  treat  with 
them  about  the  liberty  and  life  of  his  Master.  He 
said  to  them  :  "  What  will  you  give  me,  and  I  will  de- 
liver him  over  to  you?"  They  agreed  to  give  him  [ 
thirty  shekels  or  thirty  denarii  of  silver.  Judas  ac-  / 
cepts  their  offer,  and  promises  to  deliver  Jesus  up  to 
them  without  the  knowledge  of  the  people.  Thirty 
shekels  of  silver  were  about  equivalent  to  a  hundred 
francs  of  our  money.  This  was  the  rate  of  the  Judaical 
fine  for  the  murder  of  a  slave — the  price  of  an  ordinary 
slave.  "  He  has  been  estimated  as  a  slave,  and  his 
price  has  been  fixed  at  thirty  denarii."  ( 


CHAPTER  III. 


THE   PASSOVER. 


THE  Passover  was  a  great  religious  solemnity  of 
the  Jews.  God  himself  had  instituted  this  fes- 
tival to  be  a  remembrance  of  the  favor  he  had  con- 
ferred on  Israel  in  delivering  her  from  the  captivity  of 
Egypt — an  image  of  that  which  he  wished  to  confer  on 
the  human  family  by  delivering  them  from  the  slavery 
of  sin  by  the  sacrifice  of  his  only  Son,  Jesus  Christ.  All 
its  ceremonies  were  symbolic  as  well  as  commemora- 
tive, and  formed  as  if  one  prophecy  of  the  second 
deliverance  after  which  the  entire  world  sighed. 

The  chief  point  of  the  Pasch  was  the  immolation  and 
manducation  of  the  lamb.  This  lamb,  immolated  in 
the  Temple  according  to  a  rite  scrupulously  observed, 
recalls  this  :  that  the  Jews  had  eaten  standing,  ready  for 
the  journey,  staff  in  hand,  at  the  moment  of  their  de- 
parture from  Egypt — that  is,  at  the  moment  of  their 
departure  from  the  land  of  slavery  to  the  land  of 
liberty;  and  this  is  why  the  name  of  the  feast  was 
Pasch,  which  signifies  a  journey.  The  blood  of  the 
lamb  was  the  sign  of  salvation  for  the  first-born  of 
the  Israelites  when  the  exterminating  angel  was  sent 
by  God  to  strike  down  all  the  first-born  of  the  Egyp- 
tians. At  the  same  time  that  it  consecrated  those 
grand   remembrances,    the   paschal    lamb   typified  the 

393 


,Q^  The  Life  of  our  Lord  yes  us  Christ 

Lamb  of  God,  who  taketh  away  the  sins  of  the  world  — 
the  incomparable  Victim  whose  shed  blood  will  preserve 
from  eternal  death  those  who  shall  be  marked  with  it. 
Thus  the  immolation  of  the  paschal  lamb,  centre  of  the 
ancient  worship  and  heart  or  centre  of  the  new  law, 
forms  the  point  of  junction  of  both  covenants. 

Some  interpreters  of  the  law,  favored  by  the  Holy 
Ghost,  had  dimly  seen  through  this  grand  mystery. 
The  name  even  of  Eucharist,  given  to  the  flesh  of  the 
lamb  and  preserved  by  the  Church,  prophesied  a  sacri- 
fice far  more  august.  After  having  eaten  the  lamb, 
Israel,  delivered  from  the  yoke  of  Egyptian  bondage 
but  not  yet  in  possession  of  the  promised  land,  had 
been  miraculously  fed  by  the  manna  falling  from  hea- 
ven. The  sages  of  the  ancient  law  expected  the  reality 
of  the  perfect  manna,  of  which  this  real  manna  was  but 
a  figure  or  type.  They  announced  a  bread  more  won- 
derful for  the  day  of  universal  deliverance.  God  wish- 
ed that  they  should  be  particularly  attentive  to  this 
verse  of  the  Seventieth  Psalm,  as  the  whole  applied  en- 
tirely to  the  kingdom  of  the  Messias:  "The  wheat  wiil 
grow  on  the  earth,  and  even  on  the  top  of  mountains  ";  or 
from  the  Chaldaic  version  :  "  There  shall  be  a  sacri- 
fice of  wheat  in  the  land  on  the  summit  of  the  moun- 
tains." They  saw  the  relation  between  the  wheat  and 
the  manna.  Cotton,  in  his  Catholic  Institution,  and 
Sepp,  in  his  Life  of  Our  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  cite  some 
of  their  interpretations,  as  well  of  this  text  as  of  many 
others  which  treated  the  same  subject.  Rabbi  Eliezer 
has  pointedly  spoken  of  the  manna  of  the  Messias  : 
"The  just  are  destined  to  eat  of  this  manna  in  the 
epoch  that  is  coming;  and  if  you  ask  if  it  will  be  of  the 
same  manna  as  the  manna  of  the  desert,  no,  but  of  a  far 
more  elevated  and  superior  kind,  so  good  that  there  was 


The  Life  of  our  Lord   yesus   Christ.  395  ) 

nothing  ever  comparable  to  it."  Rabbi  Kimchi,  on 
the  Prophet  Osee  :  "  Some  understand  by  these  words, 
'They  will  live  on  wheat,'  that  in  the  future,  when  the 
Saviour  shall  appear,  he  shall    have   changed  it  ;   there  ) 

will    be    a    transubstantiation     in    the    nature    of    the  < 


) 

wheat."      Rabbi  Moses,  son  of  Nachman  :     "  The  man- 


na is  engendered  from  the  divine  Light,  who  has  taken 
a   body  by  the   will    of    his   Creator."     Rabbi    Moses  ) 

Hardasan,  on  the  Thirty-sixth  Psalm  :     "  The  bread  he  i 

gives  to  all  is  his  flesh,  and,  though  they  taste  bread,  it 
is  changed  into  flesh."  Rabbi  Cahana,  on  the  words 
of  Genesis,  Tying  his  ass  to  the  vine  ;  "There  he  has 
shown  us  that  the  sacrifice  which  will  be  made  by  the 
means  of  wine  will  be  changed  not  only  into  the  sub- 
stance of  the  Messias,  but  also  it  will  be  converted  into 
the  substance  of  his  body."  Rabbi  Judas,  commenting 
on  the  Book  of  Numbers,  says  that  shew-bread  placed 
in  the  sanctuary  is  also  called  the  bread  of  presences,  \ 

"  because  it  will  be  changed  into  the  substance  of 
the  body  of  the  Messias  when  he  shall  be  sacrificed."  I 

"  This  is  the  reason,"  he  adds,  "  that  you  will  take  care 
to  offer  me  up — that  is,  that  myself  shall  be  offered  up. 
And  there  He  will  be  invisible  and  impalpable.  Our  fa- 
thers even  told  us  that  it  is  named  in  the  plural  '  faces' 
or  presences  ;  whereas  in  this  sacrifice  there  will  be 
two  substances — to  wit,  the  divinity  and  the  human- 
ity." Rabbi  Barachias,  on  those  words  of  Ecclesiastes, 
Who  is  that  who  has  beat,  and  who  will  be  :  u  As  there 
has  been  a  first  redeemer — to  wit,  Moses — so  there  will 
be  another;  and  as  the  first  caused  manna  to  descend 
from  heaven,  so  also  the  Redeemer  who  will  be  the 
Messias  will  be  wheaten  bread  on  the  earth."  Rabbi 
Simon,  on  the  Seventy-second  Psalm  :  "  Then  God 
will  be  filled  with  mercy,  and  with  a  powerful  and  effi- 


396 


The  Life  of  our  Lord  yesus  Christ. 


cacious  virtue  of  the  words  which  shall  issue  from  the 
mouth  of  the  priests  he  will  change  the  sacrifice  which 
shall  be  presented  to  him  on  every  altar  into  the 
body  of  the  Messias."  Rabbi  Salomon,  on  those 
words  of  the  same  psalm,  The  wheat  shall  be  en  the 
earth  and  on  the  top  of  mountains  :  "  Our  masters  have 
interpreted  this  of  the  loaves  that  shall  be  at  the  time 
of  the  Messias,  of  which  it  is  written  in  a  book  called 
Siplira  that  those  loaves  should  be  like  the  palm  of 
the  hand,  and  that  each  one  shall  take  of  them  for  his 
nourishment."  *  We  find  the  same  sense  in  the  two 
altars  of  the  temple,  the  opposition  of  which  is  remark- 
ed by  the  Jew  Philo — the  exterior  altar  continually 
inundated  with  the  blood  of  the  victims;  the  inner  al- 
tar, whence  the  curling  smoke  of  the  purest  incense 
ascends  up  toward  heaven,  and  near  to  which  was  the 
table  bearing  the  loaves  of  proposition,  a  symbol  of 
the  unbl»ody  Sacrifice  which  was  destined  to  replace 
all  the  victims.  It  was,  moreover,  the  common  belief 
among  the  Israelites  that  at  the  event  of  the  Messias* 
coming  all  sacrifices  should  cease,  but  that  the  sacri- 
fice of  bread  and  wine  should  remain  for  ever.  The 
Messias  has  come,  and  all  truth  has  issued   from  the 


*  Those  who  pretend  to  have  consulted  the  rabbinical  books  have 
not  seen  all  they  contain  ;  but  they  must  not  be  read  with  the  eyes  of 
modern  rabbis.  "  If  we  had  in  our  hands  the  works  of  the  rabbis 
composed  before  the  time  of  Jesus  Christ,  and  which  perished  in 
great  part  in  the  conflagration  of  Jerusalem,  we  would  be  astonished 
at  the  admirable  accord  that  the  dogma  of  ancient  Judaism  presents 
with  that  of  Christianity,  and  at  the  difference  that  exists  in  this  rela- 
tion between  the  Jews  of  today  and  their  ancestors.  Many  precious 
manuscripts  existed  at  the  time  of  Pico  della  Mirandola,  but  since 
are  lost.  There  was  a  time  when  the  Jews  sought  by  all  means  to 
procure  them  and  to  erase  or  totally  deface  them  in  the  libraries,  so 
as  to  destroy  the  testimony  favorable  to  Christianity." — Sepp. 


The  Life  of  our  Lord  Jfesus  Christ.  397 

shadow,  and  all  the  hopes  aroused  in  those  who  medi- 
tated on  the  Word  are  fulfilled. 

Thursday,  the  first  day  of  the  feast,  the  apostles  ask- 
ed Jesus  where  they  should  go  to  make  preparation  to 
eat  the  Pasch.  He  instructs  them  about  it  in  a  man- 
ner that  marks  his  divine  power;  telling  them  to  go  to 
the  city  and  follow  a  man  whom  they  would  meet  car- 
rying a  pitcher  of  water  ;  to  enter  with  him  into  the 
house  where  he  dwelt,  and  there  would  be  the  place. 

All  happened  as  described  ;  and  in  the  evening,  ac- 
companied by  the  twelve  apostles,  Jesus  came  to  the 
place  he  had  chosen.  From  tradition  we  learn  that 
the  house  wherein  the  Last  Supper  was  celebrated  was 
elevated  on  a  spot  whereon,  at  the  time  of  David  and 
Solomon,  the  ark  rested  forty  years.  Jesus  awaited  the 
hour,  and  when  the  stars  appeared  he  sat  at  table  and 
the  twelve  with  him.  At  this  moment,  according  to 
the  Jewish  custom  of  measuring  the  day,  Friday  had 
\  already  begun.* 

The  paschal  supper  was  a  true  religious  supper.  Our 
Lord  religiously  and  punctually  observed  its  rites,  and 
the  lamb  was  eaten  as  the  law  of  Moses  prescribed. 
It  was  properly  the  last  supper.  Afterwards  another 
repast  was  celebrated  that  was  more  free.  It  was 
during  the  second  supper  that  the  reality  succeeded 

) 

) 
) 
)  *  "  Among  the  Hebrews  the  day  commenced  at  the  setting  of  the  sun. 

According  to  this  manner  of  computing,  the  sixth  day,  which  was  the 
)  eve  of  the  Sabbath,  has,  then,  successively  seen  the  celebration  of  the 

Mosaic  Passover  by  the  Saviour  (the  eating  of  the  paschal  lamb),  the 
washing  of  feet,  the  institution  of  the  Eucharist,  the  agony  in  Gethse- 
mani,  the  whole  Passion  of  Jesus,  his  immolation,  his  death,  the  de- 
scent from  the  cross,  and  the  placing  in  the  sepulchre.  One  Jewish 
day  had  seen  all  that." — Froisse f 's  History  of  Jesus  Christ  f  10m  Contem- 
■peraneous  Texts. 

\ 

) 
) 


398  The  Life  of  our  Lord  yesus  Christ. 

to  the  figures  or  symbols,  and   that  the  true,  real   Eu- 
charist was  instituted. 

"  Knowing  that  his  hour  was  come  to  pass  out  of 

this  world  to  his  Father,  and   that  Judas,  himself  now 

.  ( 

in  the  hands  of  Satan,  had  resolved  to  deliver  him  up 

into  the  hands  of  the  Jews,  he  wished  to  give  his  own, 

whom  he  had  always  loved,  a  new  and  a  greater  mark  of 

his  love.       He    put   aside   his   outer  garments,   girded 

himself  with  a  towel,  poured  water  into  a  basin,  and 

began  to  wash  the  feet  of  his  disciples  and  dry  them 

with  the  towel  with  which  he  was  girded."   This  was  the 

function  of  a  slave  that  he  performed  into  whose  hands 

all  things  had  been  put  by  the  Father. 

When  he  came  to   Simon  Peter,  this  man  protests 

loudly:   "You,  O  Lord  ! — you  wash  my  feet?"     Jesus 


said  to  him  :  "  What  I  do  you  do  not  understand  now, 


but  you  will  understand  it."  "  I  will  never  suffer,"  re- 
plied Peter,  "  that  you  should  wash  my  feet."  "  If  I 
do  not  wash  your  feet,"  answers  Jesus,  "  you  will  have 
no  part  with  me."  He  made  allusion  to  the  spiritual 
purification  necessary  to  receive  worthily  the  Holy 
Mysteries;  the  washing  of  the  feet  here  was  a  symbol 
of  it.  Peter  without  doubt  does  not  yet  understand 
it,  but  he  understands  the  merit  of  obedience  ;  and 
with  the  open  candor  of  his  character  he  publicly  de- 
clares :  "  Lord,  wash  not  only  my  feet,  but  my  hands  ) 
and  my  head  also."  Jesus  replies  to  him  :  "  He  who  > 
has  been  washed  has  no  need  but  to  wash  the  feet  to 
be  entirely  clean.  But  you  are  clean,  but  not  all." 
Judas  was  present,  and  Jesus  washed  his  feet  also 
Having  got  through  with  this  act  of  humility,  he 
returns  to  the  table  and  says  to  them  :  "  Do  you  know 
what  I  have  done  to  you  ?  You  call  me  Master  and 
Lord,  and   you  say  truly,  for  I   am  ;    if,   then,  I  have 


The  Life  of  our  Lord  yesus  Christ.  399 

washed  your  feet — I,  who  am  your  Lord  and  your 
Master — ought  you  not  to  wash  the  feet  of  one  another  ?  ( 

For  I  have  given  you  the  example,  so  that  what  I  have 
done  you  also  may  do.  Verily,  verily  I  say  to  you, 
the  servant  is  not  greater  than  the  master,  nor  is  the 
messenger  greater  than  he  who  sent  him  ;  you  will  be 
happy  if  you  understand  that  and  if  you  do  it." 
Again  he  said  to  them:  "  I  have  desired  with  a  great 
desire  to  eat  this  Pasch  with  you  before  I  suffer  ;  for  I 
declare  to  you  I  shall  eat  it  no  more  henceforth  until 
it  be  accomplished  in  the  kingdom  of  God." 

At  the  end  of  the  repast  he  takes  the  cup,  and,  pre- 
senting it  to  them,  after  having  given  thanks,  he  says  : 
"  Take  and  share  this  among  you  ;  for  I  tell  you  I  will 
drink  no  more  of  the  fruit  of  the  vine  until  the  kiner- 
dom  of  God  arrives."     After  that  he  takes  bread,  eives  < 

thanks,  breaks  it,  and  distributes  it  to  his  disciples,  say- 
ing to  them  :  "  Take  and  eat  ;  this  is  my  body  which 
is  given  for  you.  Do  this  in  memory  of  me."  Then, 
after  he  had  supped,  taking  once  more  the  cup  or 
chalice,  and  after  having  given  thanks,  he  transmits  it 
to  them,  saying  :  "  Drink  all  of  you  of  this  ;  for  this  is 
my  blood,  the  blood  of  the  new  testament,  which  shall 
be  shed    for  you  and   for  many   for   the   remission   of  [ 

sins."     And  they  all  drank  of  it. 

After  this  august  scene  a  word  that  Jesus  spoke 
makes  the  apostles  suddenly  sad  and  melancholy.  He 
said  to  them,  with  an  emotion  that  he  let  them  see  : 
"  One  of  you  will  betray  me  ;  the  hand  of  him  who 
betrays  me  is  with  me  at  this  table."  They  at  first 
looked  at  one  another,  uncertain  of  whom  he  spoke. 
At  length  Peter,  placed  at  the  side  of  our  Lord,  but 
behind  him,  made  a  sign  to  John,  placed  at  the  other 
side,  and  said  to  him  :  v<  Who  is  it  ?"     Peter,  the  first 

I 


The  Lijc  of  our  Lord  yesus  Christ. 

to  inform  himself  about  the  name  of  the  heretic,  ful- 
fils his  office  of  chief  of  the  Church.  But  the  head  of 
John  almost  touched  the  bosom  of  Jesus.  Drawing 
himself  yet  nearer,  he  said  to  him  :  "  Who  is  it, 
Lord  ?"  Jesus  answers,  "  He  to  whom  I  will  present 
the  bread  steeped."  The  others  understood  not,  and, 
"reatly  grieved,  commenced  each  to  ask  Jesus:  "  Is  it 
I,  Lord  ?  "  By  this  question  they  manifested  at  once 
their  humble  diffidence  of  themselves  and  their  charity 
for  their  brethren.  Jesus,  treating  Judas  cautiously, 
and  wishing  to  leave  him  free,  contents  himself  by 
answering  :  "  It  is  one  of  the  twelve  who  puts  his 
hand  in  the  dish  with  me.  For  the  Son  of  Man  is  about 
to  be  delivered  up,  according  to  what  is  predicted  of 
him.  But  woe  to  the  man  by  whom  he  shall  be  de- 
livered up  ;  it  were  better  for  that  man  that  he  had 
never  seen  the  world." 

Nevertheless,  Judas  wished  to  speak  like  the  others, 
and  in  his  turn  he  had  the  boldness,  the  audacity,  to 
say:  "Master,  is  it  I?"  "You  have  said  it,"  the 
Lord  replied  to  him,  but  in  such  a  way  that  the  traitor 
only  could  hear  him.  And  having  steeped  the  bread,  he 
gave  it  to  Judas  the  Iscariot,  son  of  Simon.  This  was  a 
mark  of  affection  that  this  miserable  man  yet  received 
from  his  Master.  He  was  not  touched  at  it,  or,  if  he 
felt  any  feeling  of  remorse,  he  stifled  it,  resolved  to 
commit  his  unheard-of  crime.  This  is  why  it  was  re- 
marked that  as  soon  as  Judas  had  taken  the  morsel  of 
bread  Satan  took  possession  of  him.  Jesus  told  him 
then  :  "  What  you  do,  do  it  quickly."  Judas  forthwith 
departs.  None  of  those  at  the  table  understood  this 
rapid  scene.  John  himself,  who  knew  the  traitor,  did 
not  know  that  he  would  at  that  moment  execute  his 
design. 


{  The  Life  of  our  Lord  J'csus  Christ.  401 

The  excommunicated  wretch  went  to  have  an  under- 
standing with  those  who  guarded  the  Temple  and  who 
should  seize  our  Lord.  His  departure  from  the  hall 
of  the  Last  Supper  was  the  opening  and  the  first  epi- 
sode of  the  Passion.  A  word  of  joy  gushes  forth  from 
the   heart  of  Jesus,  as  it  were,  saluting  this  threshold 

)  of  death.     "  Now,"  said  he,  "  the  Son  of  Man  is  glori- 

fied, and  God  is  glorified  by  him  !  "      He   commenced 

I  his    discourse    immediately    after    the     Last    Supper, 

formed  from  the  substance  of  his  teachings,  and 
which  he  seems  to  have  left  us  so  that  the  whole 
world  might  see  him  ,such  as  he  appeared  on  Thabor, 
resplendent  with  the  divine  light,  and  such  as  he  always 

( 


had  been,  full  of  meekness. 

He  renewed  to  the  apostles  the  promise  of  his  re- 
wards, and  he  called  them  his  little  children — divine 
echo  of  the  preceding  word  :  "  Let  little  children  come 


to    me  " — eternal    glorification    of    their    candor    and  ( 

simplicity.  He  recommends  them  to  love  each  othet 
as  he  had  loved  them  ;  and  to  point  out  to  them  how 
much  the  force  of  this  evangelical  love  ought  to  sur- 
pass all  that  they  had  hitherto  heard,  he  tells  them  thai 
it  was  a  "  new  commandment."  Forewarning  them  that 
he  was  going  to  leave  them,  he  assured  them  that  he 
would  not  leave  them  orphans.  He  told  Peter  especially 
that  he  had  prayed  for  him,  so  that  his  faith  might  be 
able  to  resist  all  the  efforts  and  all  the  artifices  of  Satan. 
And  he  addressed  him  in  the  following  words,  which 
are  the  constitution  and  the  foundation  of  the  Church  : 
"  When  you  shall  be  converted,  confirm  your  brethren." 
And  he  also  told  him  he  would  follow  him  one  day. 
He  warned  them  that  this  very  night  all  would  aban- 
don him.  And  when  Peter  declared  his  invincible 
fidelity,  he  warned   him   that   this  very  night,    before 


402  The  Life  of  our  Lord  yesus  Christ. 

the    cock    should    crow   twice,  he    would    thrice    deny 

him. 

To  prevent  them  from  being  confounded  at  their 
own  weakness  he  adds  :  "-Let  your  hearts  not  be  trou- 
bled. You  believe  in  God  ;  believe  also  in  me.  I  go 
to  prepare  a  place  for  yo'u.  I  will  return  to  take  you 
with  me,  so  that  you  may  be  where  I  am."  He 
strengthens  them  with  a  new  strength  against  ap- 
proaching scandal  of  his  sufferings  and  his  punishment 
by  a  clearer  affirmation  of  his  divinity.  He  says  to 
Thomas  :  "  I  am  the  way,  the  truth,  and  the  life  ;  and 
no  one  can  come  to  the  Father  unless  through  me." 
And  he  says  to  Philip:  "Whoever  sees  me  sees  also 
my  Father."  He  invested  them  with  the  power  of 
miracles  :  "  The  works  which  I  do,  he  who  believes  in 
me  will  do  the  same  also.  He  will  even  perform  greater 
miracles  ;  for  I  go  to  my  Father,  and  all  that  you  ask 
of  him  in  my  name  he  will  do  it,  so  that  the  Father 
may  be  glorified  in  the  Son." 

As  if  all  these  protestations  and  assurances  were 
not  enough  for  him,  and  as  if  he  stood  in  need  of 
fortifying  himself  against  the  sorrow  they  would  be 
afflicted  with  of  seeing  him  no  more,  although  he 
was  not  bound  in  reality  to  separate  himself  from 
them,  he  promises  them  six  times  over  a  Consoler: 
"  If  you  love  me,  keep  my  commandments;  and  I  will 
implore  my  Father,  and  he  will  give  you  a  Comforter, 
who  will  remain  with  you  for  ever — the  Spirit  of  truth, 
whom  the  world  cannot  receive,  because  it  neither 
sees  him  nor  knows  him  ;  but  you  shall  know  him,  and 
he  shall  dwell  in  you,  and  he  shall  be  in  you. 
And  this  Comforter,  the  Holy  Ghost,  whom  the 
Father  will  send  in  my  name — he  will  teach  you  all 
things,  and  he  will  bring  back  to   your    remembrance 


given  me.     Arise  ;  let  us  depart  hence." 

It  is  not  known  whether  our  Lord  pronounced  these 
words  before  leaving  the  hall  of  the  Last  Supper  or  at 


The  Life  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  403 

all  that  I  have  said  to  you."  His  kindness  continually 
returns  to  these  assurances,  and,  if  one  dare  so  speak, 
he  cannot  satisfy  himself  telling  them   how  much  he 

<  loved  them,  and  strengthening  them  for  the  trial  that 
I             awaited  them. 

<  He  does  not  wish  them  to  doubt,  and  he  does  not 
}             wish  us  to  doubt — we  who  come  later,  and  who  shall 

see  his  Passion  renewed  under  our  eyes,  in  spite  of 
triumphs  and  miracles.  "  I  leave  you  my  peace  ;  I  give 
you  my  peace.  I  do  not  give  it  you  as  the  world  gives 
it.  Let  not  your  hearts  be  troubled  ;  let  them  not  be  af- 
frighted and  sad.    You  have  heard  that  I  go  away  from 

)  you  ;   but  I  shall  come  back.     If  you  love  me,  you  will 

rejoice  that  the  Son  of  Man  goeth  to  the  Father,  who 
is  greater  than  I.*  I  tell  you  these  things  now  be- 
fore they  are  accomplished,  so  that  after  their  accom- 

^  plishment  you  may  have  faith  in  me."     He  adds  :    "  I 

shall   speak  to  you    but  little   more  ;    for,  behold,  the 

prince  of  this  world  comes.      He  has  no  power  over 

me  ;    but  that  the  world   may  know  that   I   love  my 

Father,  and  that  I  execute  the  orders  my  Father  has 

~: ~*~        a„:„„  .    i„i.  ..„  j„ 4-  i "  ( 

( 
( 

some  point  of  the  route.      Whichever  it  may  be,  they 
J  mark  his  full  and  perfect  will  to  accomplish  the  sacri- 

fice by  rendering  himself  obedient  to  death.  He 
walked  then  toward  the    Mountain   of   Olives,  where 

I 

*  He  speaks  here  as  man.     We  must  recollect  that  no  book  (least 
of  all  this  abridgment  of  mine)  can  dispense  one  from  studying  the  ( 

Gospel  attentively  ;  and  the  Scriptures  cannot  be  read  with  fruit  if  the 
reader  be  not  aided  by  some  authorized  commentary  which  explains 
(be  obscure  passages. 


404  The  Life  of  our  Lord  yesus  Christ. 

Judas  was  not  ignorant  that  he  should  pass  the  night. 
On  his  journey  he  continues  his  discourse. 

Using,  according  to  his  wont,  familiar  objects,  which 
helped  to  impress  on  their  minds  and  enlighten  them 
on  his  teachings,  he  avails  himself  of  the  vine  to  make 
his  disciples  comprehend  the  mystery  of  the  union 
and  the  incorporation  of  all  the  faithful  with  the  Man- 
God,  and  to  prophesy  at  the  same  time  the  destinies 
of  heresy: 

"  I  am  the  true  vine,  and  my  Father  is  the  husband- 
man. Every  branch  that  will  be  in  me  without  bear- 
ing fruit  he  shall  lop  off;  and  all  those  that  bear  fruit 
he  will  prune,  so  that  their  fruit  may  become  more 
abundant.  Remain  in  me  and  I  in  you,  as  the  branch 
cannot  bear  fruit  if  it  remain  not  united  to  the  vine  ; 
thus  it  is  with  you  if  you  remain  not  with  me.  I  am 
the  vine  ;  you  are  the  branches.  He  who  remains  in  me 
and  I  in  him,  that  one  shall  bear  much  fruit  ;  because 
without  me  you  can  do  nothing.  If  any  one  abide  not 
in  me,  he  will  be  cast  out  as  a  rotten  branch;  he  will 
become  withered,  sapless  ;  he  will  be  cast  into  the  fire, 
and  he  will  burn.  If  you  abide  in  me,  and  my 
words  abide  in  you,  you  will  ask  what  you  please,  and 
it  will  be  given  to  you.  It  is  my  Father's  glory  that 
you  bear  much  fruit  and  that  you  become  my  disci- 
ples." •  r 

The  true  fruit  of  the  mystic  vine  is  love.      He  ex-  / 

horted  them  again  to  this  love,  which  he  had  so  much  \ 

recommended  to  them.     The  love  of  God  is  the  foun-  \ 

dation  of  the  neighbor's  love.      Both,  as  he  had  de-  i 

clared   in  the   temple,  are  the  whole  law  ;    for  all   peo-  j 

pies,  says  Pope  St.  Gregory,  form  but  one.  Every 
precept  tends  to  charity  ;  every  precept  is  founded  on 
charity.      Thus,  as  the   same   root   or  trunk  produces 


n 


The  Life  of  our  Lord  J^esus  Christ.  405 

many  branches,  so  from  charity  only  abundant  virtues 
emanate;  and  the  branch  of  good  works  remains  living 
only  inasmuch  as  it  clings  to  the  root  of  charity. 

The  precepts  are  various  on  account  of  the  diversity 
of  works  ;   they  are  one  in  root  of  charity.     O  law  of  [ 

love  !  the  tenderest  and  the  most  glorious  that  God 
himself  could  give  to  man,  but  also  the  most  opposed 
to  the  inclinations  of  fallen  nature.  On  the  threshold 
of  the  hall  where  the  Last  Supper  was  held  the  con- 
test of  pre-eminence  was  again  renewed  among  the 
apostles,  and  Jesus  had  to  gently  reprimand  them  for 
it.  He  made  them  understand  how  much  they  ought 
to  love  each  other  by  telling  them  how  much  he  had 
loved  them. 

If  it  were  necessary  to  find  out  in  the  whole  Gospel 
of  Jesus  any  passage  where  the  Gospel  and  Jesus  were 
more  concentrated  and  more  visible,  where  one  could 
recognize  more  clearly  the  doctrine  in  its  majesty,  the 
God  in  his  charity,  the  Man  in  his  divinity,  and  the 
sublime  indivisibility  of  the  doctrine  of  the  Man,  of 
the  God,  it  seems  as  though  we  cannot  avoid  pausing 
upon  the  following  words  : 

"  As  the  Father  has  loved  me,  it  is  so  also  that  I 
love  you.  Abide  in  my  lov^e.  You  will  abide  in  my 
love  if  you  keep  my  commandments.  My  command- 
ment is  that  you  love  each  other  as  I  have  loved  you. 
The  greatest  love  is  the  love  of  him  who  gives  his  life 
for  his  friends.  You  are  my  friends  if  you  do  what  I 
have  commanded  you.  I  will  call  you  no  longer  ser- 
vants, because  the  servant  knows  not  what  his  master 
does  ;  but  I  have  called  you  my  friends,  because  I 
have  made  known  to  you  all  that  I  have  heard  of  my 
Father.  It  is  not  you  who  have  chosen  me  ;  it  is  I 
who  have  chosen   and   appointed   you,  that   you    may 


The  Life  of  our  Lord  yesus  Christ. 


bear  fruit  and  that  your  fruit  may  remain.     I  give  you 
this  command  :   that  you  love  one  another." 

"  You  are  my  friends  .  .  .  and  I  have  called  you  my 
friends."  Christianity  gives  to  the  ancient  expression 
a  new  root  and,  as  it  were,  a  new  sense  of  its  own. 
St.  Gregory,  on  this  passage,  defines  the  word  friend 
amicus,  deriving  it  from  animi  custos — guardian  of  the 
soul.  That  is  the  whole  Christian  friendship  ;  and 
there  is  another  sentiment  that  merits  this  grand  and 
holy  name  of  friendship.  Jesus  is  our  friend,  because 
he  watches  over  our  souls  ;  and  we  love  him  not,  and 
we  love  not  others,  and  we  love  not  ourselves,  unless 
we  keep  his  commandments  and  accomplish  with  him 
the  work  of  friendship. 

Having  in  preparation  imbued  his  own  with  that 
strength  of  love  and  concord  which  will  shine  in  them 
so  wonderfully  through  their  love  of  him,  he  warns 
them  of  the  trials  and  combats  they  were  destined  to 
encounter.  "  If  the  world  hates  you,  know  that  I 
have  been  hated  before  you.  If  you  had  been  of  the 
world,  the  world  would  have  loved  you  ;  but  because 
you,  are  not  of  the  world,  and  because  I  have  chosen 
and  set  you  apart,  the  world  hates  you.  Remember, 
then,  the  words  I  have  spoken  to  you  :  the  servant  is 
not  greater  than  his  master.  If  they  have  persecuted 
me,  they  will  persecute  you  also.  They  will  drive  you 
out  of  the  synagogue  ;  and  the  hour  even  approaches 
wherein  whoever  shall  put  you  to  death  will  be  con- 
sidered doing  a  thing  pleasing  to  God.  And  they  will 
treat  you  thus  because  of  my  name,  because  they 
know  neither  the  Father  nor  me.  Who  despises  me 
despises  also  my  Father.  If  I  had  not  come  and  had 
not  spoken  to  them,  they  would  be  exempted  from 
sin  ;  but  now  their  sin  is  without  an  excuse.     If  I  had 


*  "  That  is  (if  we  dare  interpret  those  words,  so  mysterious),  through 
the  Holy  Ghost  the  world  will  be  convinced  that  it  is  sinful  because 
I  am  just,  or  rather  that  I  am  justice  itself,  and  that  at  the  day  of 
general  judgment  I,  who  must  be  its  judge,  will  present  to  the  world 
the  contrast  (so  overwhelming)  of  its  crimes  with  my  innocence,  and 
my  justice  with  its  iniquity.  And  then  the  world  shall  know  what 
't  is,  and  what  I  am,  and  what  it  must  expect." — P.  De  Ligny. 


The  Life  of  our  Lord  ye  sus  Christ.  407 

not  done  amongst  them  things  that  no  other  one  has 
done,  they  would  be  exempt  from  sin  ;  but  now  they 
have  seen  them,  and  they  have  despised  me  and  my 
Father.  It  is  thus  this  word  is  fulfilled  which  is  in 
their  law  :    They  have  hated  me  without  a  cause." 

He  warns  them  to  remember  these  things,  which  he 
had  not  spoken  to  them  of  from  the  commencement, 
because  then  he  was  there  with  them.     And  as  he  saw  ( 

them  silent  and  filled  with  sadness,  he  tenderly  adds  : 
"  It  is  good  for  you  that  I  should  go  away  ;  for  if  I  do 
not  go  away,  the  Comforter  will  not  come  to  you  ;  and 
I  go  away,  and  I  will  send  him  to  you.  And  when  he 
shall  come,  he  will  convince  the  world  of  sin,  of  justice, 
and  of  judgment.  *  But  these  mysteries  present  them- 
selves, the  knowledge  of  which,  being  not  necessary  for 
us,  may  be  simply  desired.  Then  Jesus,  reserving 
what  the  apostles  could  not  yet  learn,  told  them  he 
had  resolved  to  instruct  them  through  the  Holy  Ghost. 
"  When  he  will  come,  the  Spirit  of  Truth,  he  will  teach 
you  all  truth  ;  for  he  will  not  speak  of  himself,  but  he 
will  tell  of  what  he  will  have  heard,  and  he  will  make 
known  to  you  the  future  (promise  of  the  gift  of  pro- 
phecy). He  it  is  who  shall  glorify  me,  because  he  will 
receive  of  what  concerns  me,  and  he  will  announce  it 
to  you.  All  that  belongs  to  my  Father  appertains  to 
me  ;  and  this  is  why  I  have  told  you  that  he  will  receive 
of  what  is  mine,  and  that  he  shall  announce  it  to  you." 


408  The  Life  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ. 

This  is  the  sublime  mystery  of  the  procession  of  the 
divine  Persons  in  the  most  holy  Trinity.  If  we  medi- 
tate on  these  words,  and  the  place  and  the  instant 
wherein  they  were  pronounced,  the  evidence  of  divinity 
will  prostrate  the  heart  and  mind. 

Jesus  says  to  them  again  :  "  In  a  little  while  you 
shall  see  me  no  longer;  and  after  a  little  while  you 
shall  see  me,  because  I  go  to  my  Father."  This  was 
the  announcement  of  his  sepulture,  of  his  resurrection, 
of  his  apparitions,  and  of  his  ascension  into  heaven, 
where  very  soon  he  would  receive  their  victorious 
souls,  to  keep  them  for  ever  near  him.  But  this 
thought  was  too  much  shrouded  in  darkness  for  them, 
and  they  ask  among  themselves  :  "  What  does  he 
say — a  little  while?"  Jesus  replies:  "In  truth,  you 
will  weep  and  the  world  will  rejoice;  but  your  grief 
shall  be  turned  into  joy.  A  woman  who  brings  forth 
is  in  pain.  But  when  she  gives  birth  to  a  son,  she  no 
more  remembers  her  pains  ;  and  her  joy  is  great,  be- 
cause a  man  is  born.  You  likewise — you  are  now  in 
sorrow;  but  I  will  see  you  again,  and  your  heart  shall 
be  full  of  joy,  and  no  person  will  dare  take  away  from 
you  the  joy  of  your  heart,  and  you  will  demand  of  me 
nothing  more.  .  .  .  The  hour  cometh  that  I  will  speak 
to  you  no  more  in  parables,  but  I  will  announce  to  you 
clearly  what  regards  my  Father.  You  will  ask  then  in 
my  name,  and  I  do  not  say  to  you  that  I  will  entreat 
the  Father  in  your  behalf;  for  my  Father  loves  you 
because  you  have  loved  me,  and  because  you  have  be- 
lieved that  I  have  come  forth  from  God.  I  am  come 
from  the  Father,  and  I  am  come  into  the  world;  I 
now  leave  the  world,  and  I  go  to  my  Father." 

The  disciples  say  to  him  :  "  Now  we  know  right 
well  that  you   know  all   things,  and  there   is  no  need 


TJie  Life  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ.  409 

that  any  person  should  interrogate  you.  This  is  what 
made  us  believe  that  you  have  come  from  God." 
"At  this  moment  you  believe,"  replies  Jesus;  "but  the 
hour  cometh,  and  now  is,  that  you  go  away,  to  be  scat- 
tered and  to  leave  me  alone.  However,  I  am  not 
alone;  for  my  Father  is  with  me,  and  I  say  these  things 
that  you  may  have  peace  in  me.  And  you  will  have  to 
suffer  much   in   the   world.      But   have   confidence;    I  \ 

\  have  conquered  the  world."  ; 

Such  was  the  sublime  conversation  wherein  all  is 
human  and  yet  all  is  divine  ;  wherein  the  God  en- 
courages his  faithful  to  bear  patiently  with  the 
hatred  of  the  world  by  saying  to  them,  "  Know  that  it 
has  hated  me  before  having  hated  you  "  ;  wherein  the  . 
I  man  says,  "I  am  the  life.    Have  confidence  ;  I  have  con- 

\  quered   the  world."     This  was  the  last  word  of  Jesus 

Christ  to  men.  Henceforth  he  will  teach  no  more  but 
by  his  silence  in  labor  and  sorrow.  But  now  he  begins 
to  pray.  He  prayed  first  for  himself,  then  longer  and 
more  affectionately  for  those  whom  he  loved.     Human 

ears  have  never  heard,  and  never  will   they  hear,  such 
)  ? 

J  like  accents. 

)  Jesus,  then  raising  up  his  eyes  to  heaven,  said  :  "  Fa- 

)  thcr,  tne  hour  is  come  ;    glorify  thy  Son,  that  thy  Son 

may  glorify  thee.  As  thou  hast  given  him  power  over 
all  flesh,  that  he  may  give  eternal  life  to  all  whom  thou 
hast  given  him.  Now  this  is  eternal  life  :  That  they 
may  know  thee,  the  only  true  God,  and  Jesus  Christ, 
whom  thou  hast  sent.  I  have  glorified  thee  on  the 
earth  :  I  have  finished  the  work  which  thou  gavest  me 
to  do.  And  now  glorify  thou  me,  O  Father!  with  thy- 
self, with  the  glory  which  I  had,  before  the  world  was, 

\  with  thee. 

{  "  I  have  manifested  thy  name  to  the  men  whom  thou 


4io 


The  Life  of  our  Lord  yesus  Christ 


hast  given  me  out  of  the  world.  Thine  they  were,  and 
to  me  thou  gavest  them  :  and  they  have  kept  thy 
word.  Now  they  have  known  that  all  things  which 
thou  hast  given  me  are  from  thee  :  because  the  words 
which  thou  gavest  me,  I  have  given  to  them,  and  they 
have  received  them,  and  have  known  in  every  deed 
that  I  came  out  from  thee,  and  they  have  believed 
that  thou  didst  send  me.  I  pray  for  them  :  I  pray  not 
for  the  world,  but  for  them  whom  thou  hast  given  me  : 
because  they  are  thine  ;  and  all  my  things  are  thine, 
and  thine  are  mine  :  and  I  am  glorified  in  them. 

"  And  now  I  am  not  in  the  world,  and  these  are  in 
the  world,  and  I  come  to  thee.  Holy  Father,  keep 
them  in  thy  name,  whom  thou  hast  given  me  :  that 
they  may  be  one,  as  we  also  are.  While  I  was  with 
them,  I  kept  them  in  thy  name.  Those  whom  thou 
gavest  me  have  I  kept  :  and  none  of  them  is  lost,  but 
the  son  of  perdition,  that  the  Scripture  may  be  ful- 
filled. And  now  I  come  to  thee  :  and  these  things  I 
speak  in  the  world,  that  they  may  have  my  joy  filled  in 
themselves.  I  have  given  them  thy  word,  and  the 
world  hath  hated  them,  because  they  are  not  of  the 
world  :  as  I  also  am  not  of  the  world.  I  pray  not 
that  thou  shouldst  take  them  out  of  the  world,  but 
that  thou  shouldst  keep  them  from  evil.  They  are  not 
of  the  world  :  as  I  also  am  not  of  the  world. 

"  Sanctify  them  in  truth.  Thy  word  is  truth.  As 
thou  hast  sent  me  into  the  world,  I  also  have  sent 
them  into  the  world.  And  for  them  do  I  sanctify  my- 
self: that  they  also  maybe  sanctified  in  truth.  And 
not  for  them  only  do  I  pray,  but  for  them  also  who 
through  their  word  shall  believe  in  me,  that  they 
all  may  be  one,  as  thou,  Father,  in  me,  and  I  in  thee* 
that  they  also  may  be  one  in  us  :  that  the  world  may 


The  Life  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ. 


411 


believe  that  thou  hast  sent  me.  And  the  glory  which 
thou  hast  given  me,  I  have  given  to  them  :  that  they 
may  be  one,  as  we  also  are  one.  I  in  them  and  thou 
in  me  :  that  they  may  be  made  perfect  in  one;  and  the 
world  may  know  that  thou  hast  sent  me,  and  hast 
loved  them,  as  thou  hast  also  loved  me. 

"  Father,  I  will  that  where  I  am,  they  also  whom 
thou  hast  given  me  may  be  with  me  :  that  they  may 
see  my  glory  which  thou  hast  given  me,  because  thou 
hast  loved  me  before  the  foundation  of  the  world. 
Just  Father,  the  world  hath  not  known  thee  :  but  I 
have  known  thee  :  and  these  have  known  that  thou 
hast  sent  me.  And  I  have  made  known  thy  name  to 
them,  and  will  make  it  known:  that  the  love,  where- 
with thou  hast  loved  me,  may  be  in  them,  and  I  in 
them." 


BOOK   VIII. 


THE  PASSION  OF  OUR  LORD. 


CHAPTER    I. 

THE   JEWS. 

THE  Mount  of  Olives,  as  has  been  noticed,  was 
the  abode  of  Jesus  Christ — his  dwelling  in  this 
world.  He  came  there  to  redescend  thence  toward 
Jerusalem  and  death.  He  stops  awhile  at  a  place 
called  Gethsemani — that  is,  the  fertile  valley — in  a  gar- 
den wherein  he  often  assembled  his  disciples.  All  the 
apostles  were  present  but  Judas,  excommunicated  by 
himself.  Jesus  took  three  of  them  with  him — Peter, 
James,  and  John,  the  witnesses  of  Thabor — and,  after 
having  recommended  the  others  to  watch  and  pray,  he 
withdrew  from  them. 

Forthwith  he  commenced  to  yield  himself  up  to  in- 
terior sufferings.  He  allowed  fear,  agony,  and  sorrow 
to  penetrate  his  soul.  He  said  to  those  who  accom- 
panied him  :  "  My  soul  is  sorrowful,  even  to  death." 
Having  asked  them  to  watch  and  pray  with  him,  he 
retires  a  distance   of  a  stone's  throw.      He  prostrates 

413 


._ 


The  Life  of  our  Lord  jfesus  Christ.  413 

himself  to  the  earth.  It  was  the  first  time  they  beheld 
him  ia  this  posture.  "  My  Father,  if  it  be  pleasing  to 
thee,  take  away  this  chalice  from  me.  However,  not 
my  will  but  thine  be  done." 

With  his  face  prostrate  to  the  earth  he  prayed  for 
a  very  long  while.  He  had  taken  on  him  our  human 
nature,  and  he  submitted  to  all  its  infirmities.  By  giv- 
ing the  example  of  prayer  and  submission,  he  receives 
death  with  the  horror  that  it  inspires  in  all  flesh.  A 
sweat  of  blood  flows  down  from  the  body.  He  thus 
suffers  this  horror  of  the  agony  which  he  had  often 
taken  away  from  his  saints  and  his  martyrs. 

In  this  sort  of  eclipse  of  the  Divinity,  which  let 
human  nature  bow  down,  an  angel  from  heaven  came 
to  him  and  strengthened  him.  It  is  thought  that  the 
heavenly  messenger  afforded  him  bodily  strength  or 
vigor,  and  comforted  him  by  the  price  of  his  labors.  He 
rose  up  and  came  to  the  three  apostles  ;  he  finds  them 
asleep  through  weight  of  their  sadness.  He  said  to 
Peter  :  "  Simon,  you  are  sleeping  ;  you  could  not  watch 
one  hour  with  me.  Watch  and  pray,  so  that  you  enter 
not  into  temptation."  To  enter  is  to  abandon  one's 
self  to  the  torrent,  and  it  sweeps  away  all  before  it  ; 
the  resistance  of  prayer  forces  it  back.  Jesus  retired 
again  and  prayed  ;  returned  to  the  apostles  and  found 
them  all  drowsy,  not  knowing  what  to  answer  him. 

A  third  time  he  retired  and  prayed,  saying  :  "My 
Father,  if  this  chalice  cannot  be  removed,  and  if  I  must 
drink  it,  let  your  will  be  done."  His  pity  for  the  Jews 
appeared  in  the  manner  in  which  he  speaks  of  this  cha-  ( 

lice,  filled  and  presented  by  them  through  a  hardness  of 
heart  for  which  they  were  to  undergo  unheard-of  pun- 
ishments. By  these  words,  "  Let  it  pass  away,"  we 
see  a  mark  of  his  tenderness  for  his  future   martyrs,  so 

( 
( 


4i4.-  The  Life  of  our  Lord  ye  sus  Christ. 

that,  when  the  chalice  should  be  presented  to  them, 
they  might  be  able  to  drink  it,  as  he  will  very  soon 
drink  it  himself,  without'  refusing  its  bitterness,  with- 
out fainting  away  with  despair.  The  fathers  find  also  a 
relation  between  the  three  renewals  of  this  sublime 
prayer   and    the   three   dead   persons   resuscitated    by  \ 

Jesus  Christ,  the  first  in  her  house,  the  second  going 
to  the  grave,  the  third  in  the  tomb,  figured  by  the 
three  different  states  of  the  sinner.  Since  the  chalice 
was  the  purchase  of  all  the  dead,  it  was  the  expiation 
of  all  sin.  Besides,  this  triple  prayer  teaches  that  we 
must  pray  to  obtain  the  remission  of  sins  past,  pre- 
sent, and  future. 

In  the  harmony  of  the  redemption  the  garden  of 
Gethsemani — the  fertile  valley— corresponds  with  the 
Garden  of  Eden  ;  and  the  chalice  accepted  through  the 
obedience  of  Jesus  corresponds  with  the  fruit  plucked 


through  the  disobedience  of  Adam.  Adam  believed 
he  could  make  himself  master  of  life  and  knowledge. 
Driven  out  of  Eden,  he  finds  but  darkness  thicker  and 
thicker,  and  death  more  and  more  multiplied.  Jesus 
accepts  to  die  and  to  be  forthwith  dragged  from  Geth- 
semani to  the  cross;  but  this  route  of  the  cross  will  be 
a  luminous  route,  by  which  Adam,  redeemed,  ascending 
higher  than  Eden,  and  desiring  more  than  its  delights, 
will   enter   into  the   mansions  of  God.     Then,  having  > 

fully  acquiesced  in  the  will  of  the  Father,  Jesus,  full  of  ( 

strength  and  meekness,  said  to  his  apostles  :  "  The 
hour  is   now  at  hand  when  the  Son  of  Man  shall  be  ( 

delivered  up  to  the  wicked.  Arise  ;  let  us  go.  Be- 
hold, he  who  is  about  to  betray  me  is  at  hand." 

At  this  moment  Judas  appeared,  leading  on  a  numer- 
ous troop  of  Roman  soldiers  and  Jewish  satellites,  arm- 
ed with  swords  and  clubs,  and  bearing  lighted  torches. 


The  Life  of  our  Lord  "Jesus  Christ.  415 


He  said  to  them  :  "  He  to  whom  I  will  give  the  kiss  is 
the  person."  Immediately  lie  approached  our  Saviour, 
and,  giving  him  the  kiss,  he  said  :  "  Hail,  Master." 
Then  the  kiss  was  the  sicrn  or  watchword  of  traitors. 


( 
( 

i 

Origen  remarks  that   all    heretics  address    Jesus  with  I 

Judas's  salutation  :  "  Ave,  Rabbi."  ( 

Jesus  gently  received  the  kiss  of  the  Iscariot.  He 
said  to  him  :  "  My  friend,  what  are  you  come  to  do  ?  " 
These  are  words  of  tenderness  and  of  divine  depth. 
Judas,  you  are  about  to  deliver  up  the  Son  of  Man, 


of   their   crimes,   fall    backwards   toward   the  invisible 
below,  into  the  unknown  eternal. 

Jesus    again    demands  of  them  :    "  Whom    do   you 


1  u^icl.3,      yuu      «.iv-     auuut      \.\j     uluvli       ul  K      lh*~     w-/wii    w  i      indu, 

but  you  cannot  put  your  hands  on  the  Son  of  God  ; 
you  cannot  either  touch  or  betray  the  Divinity.  And 
this  Son  of  Man  whom  you  betray  has  assumed  this 
flesh  for  you,  as  well  as  for  those  who  are  going  to  tear 
it  to  pieces. 

Judas  did  not  lay  a  hand  on  his  Master  ;  he  silently 
drew  back  toward  his  motionless  band.  Then  Jesus, 
advancing  a  few  paces,  said  to  them  :  "  Whom  do  you 
seek?"  Either  they  did  not  see  him,  in  spite  of  the 
torch-lights,  or,  in  spite  of  the  sign  of  Judas,  they  did 
not  recognize  him,  or  they  dared  not  approach  him. 
They  answered  :  "  Jesus  of  Nazareth."  Jesus  said  to 
them  :  "  I  am  he." 

At  this  moment  they  saw  without  doubt  something 
like  what  those  will  see  who  shall  be  placed  at  the  left 
hand  of  the  Judge  on  the  day  of  judgment.  As  soon 
as  our  Lord  said,  "  I  am  he,  I  am  the  one,"  they  drew 
back  and  fell  flat  to  the  ground.  The  just  prostrate 
themselves  with  their  faces  to  the  east,  knowing 
well  where  they  fall,  and  raise  themselves  up  toward 
the  Invisible  on  high  ;  the  damned,  upset  on  the  road 


4i6  The  Life  of  our  Lord  ye  sus  Christ. 

seek  ?  "  They  again  answer  :  "  Jesus  of  Nazareth." 
He  replies:  "I  have  already  told  you  I  am  he.  If, 
then,  you  seek  me,  let  these  go  their  way."  This  was 
a  command  he  gave  them,  and  they  obeyed.  It  may 
be  conjectured  that  they  also  seized  some  at  least  of 
those  who  followed  Jesus.  The  Jews  had  thought  of 
putting  Lazarus  to  death.  Caiphas  interrogated  our 
Lord  about  his  doctrine  and  his  disciples.  But  Jesus 
wished  not  to  lose  any  of  his  own,  whose  faith  was 
not  yet  strong  enough  to  sustain  the  combat.  Indeed, 
none  was  lost  save  the  excommunicated  one,  who, 
through  his  avarice  and  obstinacy,  perished. 

Having  thus  twice  manifested  his  power,  and  there- 
by offered  to  Judas  and  the  Jews  a  pardon  by  which 
they  might  profit,  Jesus  let  himself  be  apprehended. 

The  disciples  then  said  to  him,  "  Lord,  shall  we  draw 
the  sword?"  Without  waiting  fora  reply,  Peter,  who 
had  a  sword,  drew  it,  struck  the  servant  of  the  high- 
priest,  and  cut  off  his  right  ear.  Peter  struck  at  the  head. 
This  servant,  called  Malchus,  which  signifies  king,  sym- 
bolizes the  Jewish  people  stripped  of  their  royalty,  fall- 
en under  the  triple  yoke  of  an  infidel  nation,  subject 
to  a  venal  priesthood  and  to  the  letter  they  no  longer 
understand.  Jesus  touches  the  wound  and  heals  it. 
According  to  some  interpreters,  it  was  this  Malchus, 
servant  of  the  synagogue,  who  buffeted  and  spat  upon 
Jesus  in  the  pretorium  of  Pilate.  How  many  other 
powerful  ones  of  the  earth,  hirelings  of  error,  forgetful 
of  the  benefits  with  which  they  are  loaded,  buffet  and 
disgorge  their  hellish  phlegm  on  Jesus,  accused  in  the 
synagogues  of  Satan  !  At  the  same  time  he  healed  the 
ear  of  this  man  he  said  to  his  disciples  :  "  Remain  here 
awhile  "  ;  and  to  Peter,  "  Put  your  sword  in  the  scabbard. 
Who  makes  use  of  the  sword  shall  perish  by  the  sword." 


The  Life  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ.  4 1 7 

Peter  struck  like  Moses  when  he  killed  the  Egyptian 

who  maltreated  a  child  of  Abraham.     Moses  was  not 

hindered  ;    Peter  is  reproved.     The  ministry  of  rigor  is 

abolished  ;    mercy   reigns.      Peter  shall    be    the    great 

minister  of  mercy.     Nevertheless,  he  keeps  the  sword  ; 

and  he  is  ordered  to  put  it  into  the  scabbard,  not  to 

throw  it  away.       With  this  sword  he  cuts  off  what  will 

not  be  unbound  ;  he  lops  off  what  wishes  to  hang  on 

after   being    disunited.      And   those   whom    Peter  has 

struck  with  this  sword  Jesus  does  not  resuscitate. 

Continuing  to  instruct  Peter,  Jesus  goes  on  :   "  Can  I 

j  not  ask  my  Father,  and  instantly  will  he  not  send  me 

more  than  twelve  legions  of  angels?     Shall  I  not  drink 

j  the  chalice  my  Father  has  given  me?      And  how,  then, 

)  shall  the  Scripture  be  fulfilled  according  to  which  this 

must  happen  ?  " 

Addressing  himself  immediately  to  those  of  the  high- 
priests   and   officers  of  the  Temple  and  ancients  who 
had  accompanied  Judas,  "You   are  come,"  said  he  to 
j  them,  "  as  if  to  a  robber,  with  swords  and  clubs.     I  was 

daily  seated  among  you,  and  I  taught  in  the  Temple, 
and  you  have  not  apprehended  me.  But  it  is  necessary 
that  the  Scriptures  should  be  fulfilled.  Now  is  your 
hour  and  the  power  of  darkness."  S 

Your    hour,    the    hour    I    have    given    you — I,    who  } 

possess  eternity  ;  I,  who  am  master  of  all  things  on 
earth  and  in  heaven  !  In  saying  these  words  Jesus 
really  and  voluntarily  puts  himself  in  their  hands,  as  if 


he  abdicated  his  sovereignty,  which  had  checked  them 
till  now.  All  the  disciples  fled  and  dispersed  in  various 
parts. 

The  satellites,  having  bound  Jesus,  led  him  at  first  to 
the  house  of  Annas,  the  old  high-priest,  assistant  of 
the  high-priest  in   charge,  Caiphas.     This  Caiphas  was 

Î 


418  The  Life  of  our  Lord  Jeszts  Christ. 

a  worthless  man,  a  servile  and  incredulous  priest,  such 
as  the  Roman  domination  sought  after  ;  because  they 
were  tools  in  their  hands  to  degrade  the  pontificate,  the 
last  strength  of  Israel.  Annas,  a  consummate  politi- 
cian, perhaps  more  perverse  than  Caiphas,  but  less 
ostensibly  mean,  governed  the  powerful  party  of  the 
enemies  of  Jesus.  Although  a  Sadducee,  as  high- 
priest  he  obtained  in  this  affair  the  confidence  of  the 
Pharisees.  We  are  not  aware  whether  he  was  bound 
to  investigate  juridically  the  case  of  Jesus,  as  presi- 
dent of  the  grand  council,  charged  with  accusing 
those  who  soiled  the  purity  of  doctrine,  or  whether 
ojr  Lord  was  simply  led  to  him,  that  he  might  the 
sooner  see  him  gibbeted.  Annas  sent  Jesus  back, 
always  in  chains,  to  the  house  of  Caiphas,  where  the 
Sanhedrim  were  assembled. 

Peter  had  fled  as  well  as  the  others.  But  love,  com- 
bating fear,  attracted  him  toward  his  captive  Master. 
He  follows  at  a  distance.  Alas  !  says  a  father,  he  fol- 
lowed him  "  afar  off"  ;  if  he  had  followed  him  hard  by, 
he  would  not  have  denied  him.  One  of  the  disciples 
made  him  enter  the  hall  of  the  high-priest's  man- 
sion. He  stayed  there  among  the  domestics  and  the 
officers,  warming  himself  at  a  fire  lit  up  on  account  of 
the  cold.  Already  the  flame  of  charity  had  subsided 
in  him  ;  he  warmed  himself  at  the  fire  of  the  persecu- 
tors for  the  love  and  pleasure  of  the  present  life. 

Jesus  was  before  the  council — before  those  whom  he 
had  convicted  of  ignorance,  of  hypocrisy  and  impiety. 
Caiphas  interrogated  him.  He  answers  that  he  had 
always  taught  publicly  in  the  synagogues  and  in  the 
Temple,  and  that  it  was  not  he  whom  it  was  necessary 
to  question,  but  those  who  had  heard  him.  But  in  all 
that  he  said  they  saw  nothing  they  could  reprehend. 


The  Life  of  our  Lord  ycsus  Christ.  419 


They  hated  him  gratuitously.  His  response  discon- 
certed them.  They  felt  it  among  the  auditory.  A 
satellite,  Malchus,  or  another — a  man  who  is  ready  on 
all  such  occasions — upbraided  him  :  "  Is  it  thus  you 
{  answer  the  high-priest  ?  "     And  he  struck  him  a  blow. 

Jesus  said  to  this  man  :  "  If  I  have  spoken  falsely,  show  [ 

me  in  what  ;  but  if  I  have  spoken  truthfully,  why  do  } 

you  strike  me  ?  "     It  is  well  known  that  these  unworthy, 
corrupt,  and    time-serving   judges   did    not    chide  the 
5  subaltern  for  his  misconduct,  or  rather  for  his  atrocious 

J  act.  ( 

However,  an  appearance  of  proof  was  necessary. 
The  Pharisees  were  not  satisfied  ;  but  they  could  not 
produce  any  tangible  proof.  They  brought  forward 
many  false  witnesses  ;  their  depositions  were  contradic- 
tory. But  two  appeared  acceptable,  who  thus  depos- 
ed :  "  He  has  said,  '  I  can  destroy  the  temple  of  God 
and  rebuild  it  in  three  days.  I  will  destroy  this  temple, 
which  has  been  made  by  the  hand  of  man,  and  in  the 
space  of  three  days  I  shall  build  up  another  which  shall 
not  be  made  by  the  hand  of  man.'  "  Jesus  had  said 
to  the  Jews — and  we  know  in  what  sense — "  Destroy 
{  this  temple,  and  I  shall  rebuild  it  in  three  days."     But 

these  witnesses  contradicted  each  other;  and,  besides, 
what  they  related  could  not  warrant  the  sentence  of 
death,  which  the  judges  were  anxious  to  render. 

Jesus  remained  silent,  leaving  the  false  witnesses  and 
the  judges  to  embarrass  and  contradict  each  other  in 
their  common  ignorance.  There  was  only  there  the 
mere  form  of  justice,  says  St.  John  Chrysostom — wicked 
men  who  rushed  upon  truth  like  robbers  rush  upon 
their  prey.  The  high-priest  first,  betraying  by  his  in- 
ordinate movements  the  passion  that  animated  him, 
said  to  Jesus  :    "  Do  you   make  no   answer  ?  "     Jesus 


; 

420  The  Life  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ. 


continued  to  keep  silence.  The  high-priest  again  in- 
terrogated him  :  "  I  adjure  you,  by  the  living  God, 
tell  us  if  you  are  the  Christ,  Son  of  God,  for  ever 
blessed."  At  this  word  Jesus  wished  no  longer  to  keep 
silence:  "You  have  said  it.  I  am  he";  he  added: 
"  and  I  tell  you  that  you  shall  see  the  Son  of  Man  seat- 
ed at  the  right  hand  of  the  Almighty  God,  coming  in  the 
clouds  of  heaven."  Immediately  the  high-priest,  as  if 
struck  with  terror,  tore  his  garments.  "  What  further 
need  have  we  of  witnesses?"  said  he  to  the  judges. 
"  You  hear  the  blasphemy.  What  think  you  ?  "  The 
others  answered  :  "  He  is  worthy  of  death." 

Caiphas,  in  the  ardor  of  his  hatred,  forgot  that  so 
much  angry  emotion  was  not  necessary  to  carry  with 
him  the  judges,  and  he  violated  the  precept  given  to 
the  high-priest:  "The  high-priest  shall  not  take  away 
the  tiara  from  off  his  head,  and  he  shall  not  rend  his 
garments."  In  rending  his  garments  he  rent  his  priest- 
hood. 

The  judges  appointed  a  day,  so  as  regularly  to  pro- 
nounce sentence  ;  and,  awaiting  the  time,  they  aban- 
doned Jesus  to  men  selected  to  guard  him.  These 
were  men  who  voluntarily  offered  themselves  to  such 
masters,  and  whom  such  masters  knew  well  how  to 
choose — men  who  hated,  on  their  own  account,  those 
whom  they  persecute,  and  who  torment  them  with 
more  rage  when  they  know  them  to  be  innocent.  The 
Man  of  goodness,  the  Man  of  God,  the  Man  of  mercy, 
is  delivered  over  to  their  hellish  clutches.  They  sa- 
vagely amused  themselves  by  cruelly  tormenting  him  ; 
they  spat  in  his  face,  struck  him  with  their  clubs,  blind- 
folded him,  struck  him,  and  said  to  him  :  "Christ,  pro- 
phesy, and  tell  us  who  has  struck  you  ?  " 

They    preserved    the    practice  of   blindfolding    him. 


~1 


The  Life  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ.  421 

When  it  was  the  hour  and  power  of  darkness  ;  when 
they  considered  him  judged;  when  they  beheld  him 
bound  with  cords  ;  when  lie  was  delivered  up  to  them, 
then  they  blindfolded  him,  as  if  they  wished  to  feign 
not  to  know  him,  or  as  if  they  thought  he  did  not  know 
them.  However,  they  knew  him  well,  and  he  knew 
them  well,  and  he  saw  them. 

Jesus  submits  in  silence  to  their  outrages  ;  but  1  more 
bitter  pain  is  offered  to  him— one  that  pierces  more 
deeply  his  heart  than  any  those  vile  and  ignorant  exe- 
cutioners could  have  inflicted. 

Peter  was  standing  in  the  judgment-hall.    A  servant, 

looking  on  him  attentively,  said  to  him  :   "You  also 

were  you  not  with  Jesus  of  Nazareth  ?  "  Peter  boldly 
denies  him,  and  he  withdraws  to  the  porch  of  the  hall. 
And  at  this  time  the  cock  crew  for  the  first  time.  An- 
other servant,  seeing  him  near  the  door,  also  denounces 
him.  He  turns  about  and  draws  near  the  fire;  but 
there  many  persons  said  to  him  :  "  Are  not  you  one 
of  his  disciples  ?  "  His  terror  increases.  He  denies 
again,  swearing  that  he  knew  not  this  man.  Despite 
all,  love  retained  him  in  his  danger.  After  a  while, 
when  he  thought  he  was  forgotten,  others  accused  him 
of  being  one  of  the  disciples  ;  he  denied  it  the  third 
time  with  imprecations.  As  he  repeated  that  he  knew 
{  not  "  this  man,"  the  cock  crew  again,  and  a  look  from 

Jesus  entered  his  very  heart.  Then  the  apostle  re- 
membered what  the  Lord  had  told  him  a  few  hours 
before:  "This  night,  before  the  cock  crows  twice,  you 
will  deny  me  three  times."  He  went  out  and  wept 
bitterly. 

Peter  denied   three  times  ;  this  triple   denial  repre- 
sents or  corresponds  with  three   formulas  or   forms   of 
)  heretical   negation   which   attack    Christ   either  in   his 


42: 


The  Life  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ. 


divinity  or  in  his  humanity,  or  in  both  at  the  same 
time.  Those  who  cause  the  apostle  to  fall  prefigure 
three  sorts  of  enemies  which  the  faithful  encounter. 
The  first  servant  represents  the  synagogue  of  the  Jews; 
the  second,  the  persecuting  nations  ;  the  men  whose 
reasoning  and  railleries  provoke  the  third  denial  are 
the  doctors  and  ministers  of  divers  heresies.  All  to- 
gether afford  an  image  of  the  society  of  the  wicked, 
and  consequently  of  the  peril  that  the  disciple  of 
Christ  ought  to  specially  avoid.  It  is,  moreover, 
through  the  secret  designs  of  Providence,  St.  John 
Chrysostom  remarks,  that  Peter  was  the  first  to  fall. 
The  remembrance  of  his  fall  taught  him  to  temper  by 
mercy  and  patience  the  severity  of  the  condemnations 
which  it  behooved  him  to  level  against  others.  Peter, 
teacher  of  the  universe,  sins  and  demands  pardon,  so 
as  to  establish  this  rule  of  indulgence  for  those  who 
are  obliged  to  judge.  The  sacerdotal  power  has  not 
been  remitted  to  the  angels,  who,  sinning  not,  pursue 
without  mercy  sin  in  the  sinner  ;  but  a  man  subject 
to  passions  is  constituted  over  others.  Discovering  in 
them  his  own  infirmity,  he  knows  better  how  to  com- 
passionate and  more  easily  to  pardon  others.  Thus 
Jesus,  delivered  up  to  the  outrages  of  men,  finished  the 
great  work  in  the  education  of  the  apostles. 

As  soon  as  daylight  appeared  the  Sanhedrim  assem- 
bled. The  Jews  once  more  adjured  Jesus  to  tell  them 
if  he  were  the  Christ.  He  answers  them  :  "  If  I  tell 
you  that  I  am,  you  will  not  believe  me  ;  and  if  I  inter- 
rogate you  in  my  turn  [on  the  marks  by  which  Christ 
ij  made  known],  you  will  not  answer  me;  neither  would 
you  let  me  out  of  your  hands.  For  the  rest,  the  Son 
of  Man  shall  be  henceforth  seated  at  the  right  hand  of 
the  All-Powerful  God."    They  well  understood.     They 


The  Life  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ. 


423 


then  reply:  "  Are  you,  then,  the  Son  of  God?"  Jesus 
made  them  the  same  reply  that  he  already  had  given 
to  Caiphas  :  "You  say  it.  Yes,  I  am."  They  ex- 
claimed, like  Caiphas  :  "What  need  have  we  of  any 
other  testimony  ?     We  have  heard  him." 

The  sentence  was  already  pronounced.  They  has- 
tened to  put  it  into  execution.  Having  led  Jesus 
away  bound,  they  presented  him  to  Pilate. 

Another  sentence  was  about  to  be  executed.  Judas 
had,  like  Peter,  followed  up  the  incidents  of  the  pro- 
cess. Already  he  felt  remorse.  Seeing  that  Jesus  was 
condemned,  he  came  to  the  chief  priests,  and  brought 
the  thirty  pieces  of  silver  to  them.  "  I  have  sinned  ; 
I  have  delivered  the  Just  One."  They  replied  to  him  : 
"  That  is  your  own  affair." 

This  miserable  man  forgot  the  goodness  of  his  Mas- 
ter, or  else  he  did  not  wish  to  invoke  the  avenging  con- 
sequence of  his  crime.  He  said  the  "  Just  One  " — not 
the  Son  of  God.  He  considers  Jesus  as  man.  The 
crime  of  Judas  was  the  want  of  faith — not  believing 
that  Jesus  was  clement  enough  or  powerful  enough  to 
pardon  him.  He  cast  down  his  thirty  denarii  in  the 
Temple,  and  went  out  and  hung  himself. 

The  chief  priests  had  a  scruple  about  the  Judas  sil- 
ver. It  was  the  price  of  blood,  and  they  did  not  wish 
to  put  it  into  the  treasury  of  the  Temple.  They  pur- 
chased with  it  a  field  for  the  burial  of  strangers.  This 
circumstance  had  been  predicted  by  a  prophet.  And 
Jesus  came  to  give  peace  to  the  living  and  the  dead. 


CHAPTER  II. 


PILATE. 


: 


THE  multitude  who  were  at  Caiphas's  house,  judges 
and  servants,  dragging  away  Jesus,  tightly 
bound,  became  tumultuous  at  the  palace  of  the  Roman 
governor,  Pontius  Pilate.  Our  Lord,  at  his  departure 
from  Ephrem,  had  said  :  "  We  go  to  Jerusalem,  where 
the  Son  of  Man  will  be  delivered  up  to  the  high- 
priests  and  to  the  doctors  of  the  law,  who  will  con- 
demn him  to  death,  and  will  deliver  him  up  to  the 
Gentiles."  The  torch  of  the  prophets,  throwing  light 
on  this  hideous  and  frightful  punishment,  suffers  not 
that  the  Divine  Majesty  be  veiled  for  an  instant. 

The  Jews  are  savagely  excited  before  the  pretori- 
um  ;  they  dared  not  enter,  lest  they  might  become  con- 
taminated by  coming  in  contact  with  the  house  of  a 
pagan.  Here  we  recognize  the  Pharisees  whom  our 
Lord  describes.  The  law  did  not  forbid  them  to  enter 
the  house  of  a  pagan — that  was  purely  an  observance 
of  their  own  making  ;  but  the  law  forbade  them  to  put 
to  death  an  innocent  man. 

Pilate  went  out  and  asked  them  what  accusation  they 

had  against  this  man.     They  bellow  forth  that  he  was 

a  malefactor  ;  that  otherwise  they  would  not  have  led 

him   to  judgment.      Pilate    told    them    to   judge   him 

themselves  according  to  the  law.    They  replied  :  "You 

424 


The  Life  of  our  Lord  ye  sus  Christ.  425 

}  know  we   are  not  permitted  to  put  any  one  to  death." 

Then  the  sceptre  had    departed   from  Juda:    the  time 

\  of  the  Messias  had  arrived. 

Doing  all  they  could  to  put  Jesus  to  death,  his  ene- 
mies   preferred,   nevertheless,   not    to    be    his    official 

j  judges.      According  to  the  law,  they  could   only  have 

condemned  him  to  be  stoned  to  death  ;  and  they  were 
burning  with  a  desire  that  he  should  undergo  the  death 
of  the  cross.  The  author  of  the  Book  of  Wisdom 
makes  the  wicked  say  who  plotted  the  death  of  the 
Just  One  :  "  Let  us  condemn  him  to  the  most  shame- 
ful death."  On  the  other  hand,  they  imagined  they 
could  hide  themselves  from  the  wrath  and  possible 
resistance  of  the  people;  for  this  pack  of  hirelings 
whom  they  had  let  loose  was  not  strong  enough 
yet  to  effect  their  base  designs.  When  the  gover- 
nor had  assumed  the  responsibility  of  the  condem- 
nation, he  interested  himself  the  more  to  have  the  sen- 
tence of  death  executed.  The  hatred  and  policy  of 
the  Jews  equally  concurred,  "so  that  the  word  which 
Jesus  had  spoken  might  be  fulfilled,  in  order  to  point 
out  what  death  he  should  die." 

Then  they  commenced  to  accuse  him  before  Pilate. 
"  We  have  found  this  man,"  said  they,  "to  be  a  per- 
verter  of  our  nation,  who  forbids  us  to  pay  tribute 
to  Cesar,  and  who  gives  himself  the  names  of  Christ 
and  of  king."  Five  days  before  Jesus  said  to  them  : 
"  Render  unto  Cesar  what  belongs  to  Cesar." 

Pilate  did  not  believe  them  ;  but  on  an  accusation  of 
such  a  nature  his  office  obliged  him  to  a  semblance  of 
information.  He  went  on  and  caused  Jesus  to  be 
brought  before  him,  and  said  to  him:  "Are  you  the 
King  of  the  Jews  ?  "  Jesus  answers  :  "  Did  you  say  this 
of  yourself,  or  have   others   said    it  to  you   of   me?" 


The  Life  of  our  Lord  yesus  Christ. 

"  Am  I  a  Jew  ?  "  Pilate  replied.  "  Those  of  your  nation 
have  delivered  you  into  my  hands.  What  have  you 
done  ?  "  He  was  the  regular  judge  who  spoke.  Jesus 
continued  to  reply  :  "  My  kingdom,"  said  he,  "  is  not 
of  this  world.  If  my  kingdom  were  of  this  world,  my 
servants  would  certainly  strive  that  I  should  not  be 
delivered  up  to  the  Jews  ;  but  my  kingdom  is  not 
hence."  Pilate  said  to  him  :  "  Then  are  you  a  king  ?  " 
"  You  have  said  it.     I  am  a  king." 

David  sang,  "  The  Lord  has  established  me  King 
over  the  holy  mountain  of  Sion  [the  Church],  to 
declare  his  law."  Jesus,  ending  his  reply  to  Pilate, 
describes  in  a  like  manner  his  royalty:  "  I  was  born, 
and  for  this  end  I  came  into  the  world  :  that  I  should 
give  testimony  to  the  truth;  and  every  one  that  is  of 
the  truth  heareth  me."     Pilate  said,  "  What  is  truth  ?  " 

In  the  whole  Gospel  there  is  not  a  trait  of  historical 
accuracy  more  striking  than  this.  It  not  only  portrays 
for  all  time  the  high  in  station  and  the  judges  of  the 
earth,  but  it  was  then  particularly  the  résumé  or  prac- 
tical summing  up  of  all  philosophy — the  last  word  of 
human  wisdom.  In  uttering  it  he  did  not  demand  an 
answer;  he  was  sure  that  none  would  be  given  him. 

Pilate  then  went  to  the  accusers  of  Jesus,  and  said 
to  them  :  "  I  find  no  crime  against  this  man." 

Such  a  decision,  after  an  interrogatory  so  short,  made 
it  sufficiently  known  that  the  judge  was  already  instruct- 
ed on  the  count  of  the  accused,  and  that  the  clamors 
of  the  Jews  could  not  deceive  him.  Nevertheless,  they 
continued  to  accuse  Jesus,  and  they  multiplied  calum- 
nies. Jesus  remained  silent,  as  he  had  done  before 
Caiphas.  It  was  the  duty  of  the  judge  to  demand 
proofs.  Pilate,  embarrassed  in  his  official  state,  said  to 
Jesus:  "  Do  you  not  hear  how  many  charges  they  bring 


The  Life  of  our  Lord  jfesus  Christ.  427 

against  your"  But  Jesus  answered  no  more.  Pilate 
was  greatly  astonished  at  this.  He  did  not  understand 
that  Jesus,  having  told  him  what  was  necessary  to 
enlighten  his  conscience,  was  bound  to  tell  him  nothing 
more,  and  that  it  belonged  to  him,  as  judge,  to  defend 
the  accused,  whom  he  found  innocent.  Pilate  had  the 
misfortune  of  men  who  care  little  to  know  what  truth 
is,  and  who  "doubt  if  there  be  any  truth.  He  was 
weak,  vacillating,  and  temporizing  before  the  power  of 
falsehood.  The  Jews  felt  the  advantage  that  his  timid- 
ity gave  them.  They  were  so  emboldened  by  Pilate's 
weakness  that  they  clamored  louder  against  Jesus,  say- 

j  ing  that  he  aroused  the  people  by  the  doctrine  he  had 

I  preached   in   all  Judca,  from  Galilee,  where  he  began, 

even  to  here.     On  hearing  them  speak  of  Galilee  Pilate 

\  thought  he  had  discovered  a  way  to  honestly  get  out 

)  of  this  cause. 

)  Jesus  being  a  Galilean  and  under  the  jurisdiction  of 

Herod,  he  sent  him  off  before  this  prince,  who  hap- 
pened to  be  at  this  moment  at  Jerusalem. 

Herod  was  glad  to  see  Jesus,  thinking  he  would  per- 
form a  miracle  before  him.  He  began  to  interrogate 
him  with  a  great  abundance  of  words.     Jesus  did  not 

)  answer  him  any  more  than  he  did  the  accusers  who  fol- 

lowed him.     The  prince  and  his  courtiers,  wounded  at 

s  his  silence,  treated  him  with  derision,  in  imitation  of  the 

low  hirelings  at  the  house  of  Caiphas.     They  clothed 

{  him  with  a  white  robe,  as  one  is  accustomed  to  dress 

fools  ;  he  is  sent  back  to  the  bar  of  Pilate,  thanking 
him   for  his  courtesy.     On  this  occasion    Herod    and 

}  Pilate,  heretofore  enemies,  were  reconciled. 

Throughout,  the  governor  did  not  wish  to  put  Jesus 
to  death.  Not  daring  to  act  with  authority,  he  thought 
of  an    arrangement    to   propose  to  the  Jews.     "  You 


428  The  Life  of  o:ir  Lord  yesus   Christ. 

know,"  said  he  to  them,  "  that  I  have   found  in  this 

man   none    of   the   crimes   of   which  you   accuse   him  ;  \ 

neither  has  Herod.     So  he  does  not  deserve  death.     I 


will,  therefore,  punish  and  release  him." 

This  is  the  justice  of  Pilate  !  But  whether'  this 
means  appeared  to  him  not  sure,  or  he  found  it  made 
himself  odious,  he  proposes  yet  another  plan. 

At  the  paschal  solemnity  it  was  a  privilege  granted 
to  the  people,  to  release  a  prisoner.  But  there  was 
then  in  prison  at  Jerusalem  a  notorious  malefactor 
named  Barabbas,  guilty  of  robbery,  of  sedition,  of 
murder.  Pilate  gave  them  the  choice  of  delivering 
Barabbas  or  Jesus.  He  had  not  offered  this  choice  to 
the  scribes  and  to  the  priests,  whose  hatred  he  was 
aware  of,  but  he  considered  that  the  people  would 
proclaim  themselves  in  favor  of  the  innocent.  A  sin- 
gular circumstance  strengthened  his  desire  not  to  con- 
demn Jesus.  His  wife  sent  to  him,  saying  :  "  Have 
nothing  to  do  with  that  just  man;  for  I  suffered  much 
this  day  in  a  dream  on  account  of  him." 

The  hope  of  Pilate  was  promptly  frustrated.  On 
the  one  side,  the  Pharisees  had  corrupted,  demoraliz- 
ed, and  excited  the  multitude.  On  the  other,  Barab- 
bas, a  robber,  a  murderer,  a  perverter  of  sound  morals, 
was  not  unpopular.  The  masses,  says  Origen,  are 
easily  discerned  in  Barabbas.  Outwardly  we  see  some 
disturbers  of  society,  some  murderers,  son%  robbers  ; 
far  more  are  such  in  their  souls.  They  will  always 
clamor  for  Barabbas  ;  for  whoever  does  evil,  or  wishes 
it  to  be  done,  demands  that  Christ  should -be  bound, 
garroted,  and  Barabbas  let  loose.*  Other  interpreters 
have  observed  that  Barabbas  signifies  son  of  their  mas- 
ter, and  that  the  master  of  this  world,  as  Jesus  had 
told  them,  was  Satan.     When  Pilate,  then,  had  made 

)  ( 

) 


The  Life  of  our  Lord  j'esus  Christ.  429 

)  his  proposition,  the  throng,  to   his   great  surprise,  bel- 

lowed forth  :  "  Give  us  Barabbas."  "  But,"  he  replied, 
"  what,  then,  do  you  wish  that  I  should  do  with  the  King 
of  the  Jews— Jesus,  called  the  Christ?"  They  cried 
out:  "Away  with  him!  Crucify  him  !"  "  Crucifixion 
was  the  punishment  of  slaves.  Slaves  demanded  this 
punishment  for  him  who  had  said  to  them,"  The  truth 

\  shall  make  you  free."  {, 

Pilate  replies:  "What  evil  has  he  done?  I  see 
nothing  in  him  that  merits  death."  And  coming  back 
to  his  first  design,  he  added  :  "  I  will  have  him  chastis- 
ed,and  then  I  shall  have  him  released."  But  the  Jews 
redoubled  their  clamors  :  "  Crucify  him  !  "—crying  out 
always,  "  Crucify  him  !  Crucify  him  !  Give  us  Barab- 
bas !  " 

Pilate  began  to  fear  that  all  this  might  turn  into  sedi- 
tion, and  might  become  for  him  personally  a  bad  affair. 
Already  in  a  serious  matter  he  had  had  to  yield  to  the 
perseverance  of  the  Jews  at  Jerusalem  and  at  Rome. 
He  gave  orders  to  release  Barabbas  and  to  scourge  Jesus. 
Ordinarily,  scourging  preceded  the  execution  of  the 
sencence  of  death.  They  stripped  the  suffering  Jesus, 
and  four  soldiers  scourged  him  with  leather  thongs 
studded  with  knobs  or  large  iron  nails.  This  punish- 
ment  was  so    cruel  that    often  the  condemned    died 

j  under  it. 

When  our  Lord  had  endured  this  cruel  torment,  the 


Roman  soldiers,  of  themselves  or  at  the  instigation  of 
the  Jews,  wished  to  amuse  themselves  with  him  by  gib- 
ing and  mocking  him,  as  they  had  done  at  the  house 
of  Caiphas  and  at  the  court  of  Herod.  They  covered 
him  with  a  cast-off  purple  cloak  formerly  worn  by 
some  noted  Roman  captain,  put  a  crown  of  thorns  on 

his  head,  placed  in  his  tied-up  hands  for  a   sceptre  a 

) 
) 

!  ■     ! 

) 


430  The  Life  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ. 

slender  reed,  and  bending  the  head  and  prostrating  them- 
selves, they  said  to  him  :  "  Hail,  King  of  the  Jews  !  " 
This  false  homage  was  but  a  pretext  to  vent  their  dia- 
bolical fury  on  him.     They  spat  on  him.     They  gave  \ 
him  blows— buffets,  and,  taking  the   reed   out  of   his  \ 
hand,  they  struck  him  on  the  head  with  it — sinister  pre-  \ 
diction  of  the  rage  of  future  renegades  !     The  thirst  for            } 
smothering  the  Son  of  God  with  opprobrium,  the  de- 
rision of  the  wretched  rabble,  blown  to  white  heat  by 
the  scribes,  winked  at  by  the  powerful,  is  the   most 
marked  and  most  prophetic  character  of  the  Passion. 

Jesus  suffered  all  without  complaining,  without 
turning  aside  his  face,  mute  as  a  lamb  led  to  the 
slaughter,  as  his  prophets  had  represented  him. 

When  Pilate  had  judged  that  he  had  done  enough  to 
satisfy  the  Jews  in  his  judicial  treatment  of  the  inno- 
cent Jesus,  he  went  forth  out  of  the  judgment  hall 
and  said  to  them  :  "  Behold,  I  have  led  him  forth  to 
you  ;  understand,  then,  that  I  find  no  crime  in  him." 
He  made  Jesus  appear,  bleeding,  mangled,  the  crown 
of  thorns  on  his  head,  his  hands  tied,  his  shoulders 
covered  with  a  cast-off  purple  cloak  in  derision,  and  he 
said  to  them,  "  Behold  the  Man  !  "  j 

The  populace  were  silent  ;  the  priests  and  scribes  and 
the  ancients  of  the  Temple  bellowed  forth  :  "  Crucify 
him  !  "  Pilate,  irritated,  replied  :  "  Crucify  him  your- 
selves ;  because,  for  my  part,  I  have  found  no  crime  in 
him."  This  was  the  fourth  declaration  that  he  made 
them,  and  he  will  do  it  again.  The  Jews  answered  :  "  We 
have  a  law,  and  according  to  that  law  he  ought  to  die, 
because  he  has  made  himself  the  Son  of  God."  For 
the  crime  of  the  state,  which  Pilate  refused  to  admit, 
they  substitute  the  crime  of  religion. 

This  word  increased  the  perplexities  and  the  secret 


j 


The  Life  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ.  43 1 

terrors  of  the  pagan.  Jesus  had  manifestly  inspired 
him  with  respect.  That  Sage,  of  whom  so  many  won- 
derful things  have  been  said  ;  that  Hero,  that  innocent 
and  pure  man— could  he  not,  in  effect,  have  been  the  son 
of  some  divinity?  He  led  Jesus  back  into  the  preto- 
rium,  and  asked  him  :  "  Whence  are  you  ?  "  Jesus  did 
not  reply.  Pilate  said  :  "  Are  you  ignorant  that  I 
have    power  to   crucify  you  and   the  power  to  set  you 


delivering   Jesus,    but    always    without    compromising 
himself.     He    found  it  not.     The  Jews  yelled    forth* 


Jesus,  manifesting  his  mercy  for  this  man  in  worldly 
authority,  deigned  to  say  a  word  to  him.  "  You  would 
not  have,"  he  replied  to  him,  "  any  power  over  me,  if 
it  had  not  been  given  to  you  from  on  high.  This  is 
the  reason  why  the  sin  of  him  who  has  delivered  me 
up  to  you  is  greater  than  yours." 

A  word  of  pardon  by  which  Pilate  did  not  profit. 
He  was  unfortunately  more  subdued  by  vain  pity  than 


converted  by  justice.     He  always  sought  a  means  of 


( 
( 

"  If  you  release  him,  you  do  not  serve  Cesar  ;  for  Jesus  < 


made  himself  king,  and  whoever  makes  himself  king 
declares  himself  against  Cesar."  They  forthwith 
raised  up  against  him  an  accusation  of  high-treason 
—an  unpardonable  crime  in  the  eyes  of  Tiberius,  and 
on  which  all  the  informers  were  collected. 

The  weak  conscience  of  Pilate  was  not  able  to  resist 
their  last  attack.  Nevertheless,  he  continued  to  pro- 
test. Being  seated  in  his  tribunal  outside,  he  caused 
Jesus  to  be  led  out  before  the  Jews,  and  he  said  to 
them  again  :  "  Behold  your  king  !  "  They  cried  out  : 
"  Down  with  him  !  Put  him  to  death  !  Crucify  him  !  " 
"Shall  I  crucify  your  king?"  said  Pilate  once  more. 
The  chiefs  of   the    priests    answered  :    "  We    have   no 


432  The  Life  of  our  Lord  j'esus  Christ. 

other  king  but  Cesar."  They  incontestably  proved  that 
the  time  of  the  Messias  had  arrived  and  that  they  re- 
fused to  receive  him.  They  knew  well  what  they 
preferred  to  him,  and  what  kings  Barabbas  and  Cesar 
were. 

The  multitude  now  became  boisterous  ;  the  tumult 
began  to  rage.  Weak,  temporizing  Pilate  at  last  gave 
his  decision.  But  he  wished  to  manifest  the  last  proof 
of  the  innocence  of  Jesus,  also  the  last  attestation  of  his 
own  guilt.  He  ordered  water  to  be  brought  to  him, 
and,  washing  his  hands  before  the  people,  he  said  to 
them  :  "  I  am  innocent  of  the  blood  of  this  just  man, 
and  you  will  have  to  answer  for  it."  All  bellowed  out 
"  Let  his  blood  fall  upon  us  and  our  children." 

Pilate  abandoned  Jesus  to  them  to  do  with  him  what 
they  wished. 

At  Bethlehem  we  beheld  new  virtues  bloom  forth 
upon  the  world.  Here  new  crimes  surge  forth,  roll 
high — hideous  types  of  hatred,  of  justice,  and  disregard 
of  truth.  What  progeny  that  Judas,  that  Caiphas,  that 
Herod,  that  throng,  will  bring  forth  !  How  often  the 
concourse  of  traitors  and  apostates  will  cause  the  vile 
face  of  that  Pilate  to  reappear  whose  judgment  ab- 
solves the  Christ,  but  whose  cowardice  crucifies  him  ! 


CHAPTER  III. 


CALVARY. 


MAN  takes  delight  in  the  sufferings  of  man,  and 
when  the  wicked  has  power  over  the  just  rare- 
ly is  he  contented  with  putting  him  to  death.  As  soon 
as  Pilate  had  pronounced  the  sentence  of  death  the 
soldiers  recommenced  the  scene  of  the  crowning  of  the 
adorable  head  of  Jesus  with  thorns.  A  second  time 
he,  the  Just  One,  submitted  to  their  cruel  strokes  and 
to  their  insults.  Then  they  drag  from  his  mangled 
body  the  tattered  red  cloak,  and  put  on  him  again  his 
scanty  clothing,  and  lead  him  outside  of  the  city  to  a 
place  named  Calvary — in  Hebrew,  Golgotha.  Accord- 
ing to  a  very  ancient  tradition,  there  Adam  had  been 
interred,  the  first  sinner.  What  is  more  certain  is  that 
Calvary  was  the  place  of  executions — the  place  of  the 
decapitated. 

A  writer  of  our  times  has  paraded  his  impiety  in  the 
Holy  Land,  and  he  has  obtained  the  merit  of  return- 
ing from  it  with  greater  impiety  He  wishes  us  to  ob- 
serve that  Calvary  must  not  be  represented  such  as 
Christian  poesy  had  represented  it.  He  saw  there,  for 
his  part,  but  a  vile  and  miserable  place.  We  may 
grant  to  the  enemies  of  Jesus  that  Calvary  was  as  ig- 
noble as  the  cross.  There  was  nothing  wanting  to  the 
completion   of   the   punishment   that   the  Son   of  God 

433 


The  Life  of  our  Lord  ye  sus  Christ. 


wished  to  undergo  for  the  redemption  of  the  world. 
And  what  can  there  be  found  infamous  on  Calvary- 
comparable  to  the  infamy  of  men  ? 

Calvary  was,  then,  the  spot  of  all  capital  executions. 
St.  John  Chrysostom  gives  this  reason  for  it:  Ignored 
by  unbelievers,  forsaken  by  renegades,  the  Lord  did 
not  wish  to  suffer  in  the  Temple  nor  under  a  roof,  so 
that  you  might  not  imagine  that  he  died  for  the  Jewish 
people  only  ;  he  suffered  outside  of  the  city  and  be- 
yond the  walls,  so  that  you  may  know  that  it  was  a 
sacrifice  for  all,  and  that  it  was  an  oblation  for  all  the 
earth  and  the  purification  of  the  human  race. 

Jesus,  going  forth  out  of  the  pretorium,  carried  his 
cross.  The  condemned  went  thus  to  death,  loaded 
with  the  instrument  of  their  punishment.  He  realized 
the  figure  of  Abel,  led  by  his  brother  into  a  field,  there 
to  be  put  to  death  ;  the  figure  of  Isaac,  loaded  with 
the  wood  of  his  sacrifice  ;  the  figure  of  Joseph,  and  of 
his  robe  stained  with  blood.  At  the  same  time  it  was 
the  fulfilment  of  one  of  the  prophecies  of  the  glory 
which  concerned  the  Messias  :  "  He  will  carry  on  his 
shoulder  the  sign  of  his  power."  Two  criminals  were 
conducted  by  the  same  escort  to  undergo  the  same 
punishment.  Another  prophecy  said  :  "  He  has  been 
put  on  a  rank  with  thieves  and  criminals." 

However,  he  succumbed  ;  he  had  but  human 
strength.  For  fear  that  he  might  die  on  the  way,  the 
soldiers  stopped  at  the  gates  of  the  city  a  man  who 
was  passing  by,  and  required  him,  according  to  the  Ro- 
man custom,  to  carry  the  cross  of  the  condemned.  This 
man,  named  Simon,  was  a  Libyan  of  the  city  of  Cy- 
rene,  father  of  two  disciples.  Simon  signifies  obedient  ; 
Cyrene  signifies  an  heir — a  figure  of  the  Gentile  peo- 
ple, formerly  strangers,  now   heirs    through    his    obe- 


The  Life  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ.  435 

dience.  In  the  place  of  the  Jew,  become  unworthy, 
he  suffers  himself  to  be  loaded  with  this  glorious 
ignomy. 

A  great  throng  followed,  some  silent,  others  hooting 
and  jeering  at  him.  Among  them  were  women  who 
wept  bitterly.  Jesus,  turning  around  towards  them, 
said  to  them  :  "  Daughters  of  Jerusalem,  weep  not  for 
me,  but  weep  for  yourselves  and  for  your  children. 
For  behold  days  shall  come  when  they  shall  say, 
'  Happy  are  the  barren,  happy  are  the  wombs  that 
have  not  borne,  and  the  breasts  that  have  not  given 
suck."'  \ 

Arrived  at  Calvary,  they  presented  him  wine  mixed 
with  myrrh  and  gall,  which  was  given  to  the  con- 
demned to  stupefy  them.     He  tasted   it,  but  did  not  1 

wish  to  drink  it.      In   tasting  this  bitter  draught  he 

•  ( 

obeyed,  he   expiated   the   intemperance    of   men,  and 

he  fulfilled  the   prophecies.     In   refusing  to  drink,  he  \ 

denies  himself  the  artificial  comfort  of  a  sort  of  intoxi- 
cation ;  he  showed  that  he  well  knew  the  bitterness 
of  sin,  since  he  underwent  its  entire  punishment,  but 
that  he  did  not  swallow  its  poison. 

The  soldiers  stripped    him.      Adam,   conquered  by 
Satan,   covered   himself  with  garments    made    of   the 
leaves  of  the   trees  of  Eden  ;  but   the  Saviour  strips 
)  himself  to  conquer.     Clothed  with  the  splendor  of  his 

innocence,  he  mounts  upon  the  cross.  As  the  first 
man  dwelt  in  Paradise,  so  Jesus  Christ,  the  second 
man,  entered  into  Paradise.  At  the  threshold  he  lays 
aside  the  signs  of  mortality. 

"Then  they  crucified  him,  and  with  him  the  two 
robbers;  the  one  at   his  right,  the   other  at  his  left."  ) 

Thus  speaks  the  Evangelist  St.  Luke.  The  following 
verse  teaches  the   faithful  of  Christ  that  they  should 


I 

; 

436  The  Life  of  our  Lord  jesus  Christ. 

entertain  no  feelings  of  anger  or  revenge  for  his  execu- 
tioners. And  Jesus  said  :  "  My  Father,  forgive  them  ; 
for  they  know  not  what  they  do." 

One  circumstance  only  troubled  the  Sanhedrim.  Pi- 
late had  prepared  a  writing  that  he  caused  to  be  placed 
over  the  head  of  Jesus  ;  it  bore,  "  Jesus   of  Nazareth, 

)  King   of  the  Jews."      Very    many    could   read    these 

words,  because  the  inscription  was  in  three  languages 
— Hebrew,  Greek,  and  Latin.      The  high-priests,  con- 

)  sidering  this  act  an  insult  and  an  injury  to  their  na- 

tion, clamorously  expostulated  with  Pilate.     "  Do  not 

>  write  King  of  the  Jews,"  said  they  to  him,  "  but  that 

)  he  called  himself  King  of  the  Jews."       Pilate,  though 

so  importuned,  did  not  listen  to  them.  According  to 
all  appearance,  he  believed  that  Jesus  was  the  Son  of 
David  ;  that  is  to  say,  reayy  King  of  the  Jews,  as  he 
had  always  named  him  during  the  judicial  process. 
He  replied  bitterly:  "What  I  have  written  I  have  writ- 
ten." "  May  the  royalty  of  Jesus,  therefore,  be  written 
in  the  Hebrew  language,  which  is  the  language  of  the 
people  of  God  ;  and  in  the  Greek  language,  which  is 
the  language  of  the  learned  and  of  philosophers;  and 
in  the  Roman  language,  which  is  the  language  of  the 
empire  and  of  the  world.  And  you,  O  Greeks  !  in- 
ventors of  the  arts  ;  you,  O  Jews  !  heirs  of  the  pro- 
mises ;  you  Romans,  masters  of  the  world,  come  read  ; 
come  see  and  read  !  "* 

The  Evangelists  have  pointed  out  another  circum- 
stance wherein  we  can  perceive  the  mercy  that  desired 
to  multiply  and  fulfil  the  prophecies,  even  to  the 
smallest  details,  so  as  to  aid  and  correct  our  incre- 
dulity.    After  having  crucified  Jesus,  the  soldiers  take 

his  clothing  and  make  four  parts  of  them,  one  for  each 
) 
)  *  Bossuet. 


The  Life  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ.  437 

of  them;  but  they  drew  lots  for  his  tunic,  which  was 
seamless.  The  prophet  had  said  :  "  They  have  divided 
my  vestments,  and  they  have  cast  lots  for  my  garments.  " 
Jews  and  pagans,  judges  and  nobles,  doctors  and 
people,  populace  and  soldiers,  all  those  who  have  in- 
sulted, beaten,  delivered  Jesus  up  to  his  executioners, 
all  those  who  covered  him  with  spittle,  all  those  who 
put  him  to  death— all  have  lit  up  so  many  torches  that 
make  his  divinity  shine  out.  The  more  they  became 
furious  to  tear  to  pieces  the  flesh  of  the  man,  the  more 
they  have  discovered  the  God. 

Other  prophecies  spring  upon  Calvary,  to  be  fulfilled 
in  later  times.  The  Passion  of  Jesus  Christ  was  to 
furnish  the  type  of  the  triumphant  sufferings  of  his 
Church,  always  victorious  over  the  roaring  waves  of 
derision. 

Four  soldiers  kept  watch,  seated  at  the  foot  of  the 
cross.   This  was  more  than  was  necessary  to  keep  off  the 
small  number  of  friends  who  might   have  been  tempt- 
ed to  detach  the  victim  from  the  cross  or  to  assuage  his 
sufferings.     His  enemies  were  free.     Then,  seeing  Jesus 
on  the  cross,  they  wagged  their  heads  and  poured  out 
on  him  torrents  of  blasphemy.     They  cried  out  to  him, 
"  Ah  !  Saviour,  you  who  destroy  the  Temple  of  God  and 
can  rebuild  it  in  three  days,  now,  then,  save  yourself.  If, 
then,  you  are  the  Son  of  God,  descend  from  that  cross." 
Satan  in  the  desert  said  to  him  :  "  If  you  are  the  Son 
of  God,  cast  yourself  down."     The  voices  of  the  chil- 
dren resemble  that  of  the  father.     The  people  mock  at 
him  ;    the    chiefs    of  the    nation,    mingled   among    the 
populace,  mocked  and  sneered  at  him    most  bitterly. 
They  said  those  things    which  the    world    continually 
hears:    He  has  saved  others  (it  was  not  yet  dreamt  of 
to  contest  his  miracles),  and   he   cannot  save   himself. 


433 


The  Life  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ. 


If  he  extricates  himself  from  the  cross,  we  will  believe 
in  him.  He  has  trusted  in  God  ;  if  God  loves  him,  let 
him  deliver  him.  Furious  by  those  clamors,  the  soldiers 
insulted  him  in  the  most  brutal  manner,  each  in  his 
turn  repeating  the  everlasting  expression  of  all  unbe- 
lievers :  "Give  us  a  miracle.  If  you  are  King,  if  you 
are  God,  let  it  be  seen  ;  save  yourself,  emancipate  your- 
self from  our  clutches."  Then  the  robbers  crucified 
at  each  side  of  him  mingled  their  voices  with  those  of 
the  other  blasphemers— the  last  personages  who  were 
wanting  to  the  scene,  and  who  completed  the  types  of 
unbelief,  such  as  we  shall  find  them  again  everywhere 
henceforth.  Turning  their  heads  toward  Jesus,  they 
said  to  him  :  "  If  you  are  the  Christ,  save  yourself  and 
save  us." 

But  it  please'd  the  outraged  God  that  even  here  the 
Avorld  should  receive  the  example  of  a  confession  the 
most  perfect  and  of  a  prayer  most  mercifully  heard. 
One  of  these  thieves,  changing  his  language,  said  to 
the  other  :  "  Do  you  no  longer  fear  God  ?  We  richly 
deserve  the  punishment  inflicted  on  us.  We  receive 
what  our  acts  merit  ;  but  this  man  has  done  no  evil." 
Then,  addressing  himself  to  Jesus,  "  Lord,"  he  added, 
"  when  you  will  enter  into  your  kingdom,  remember 
me."  Behold  the  humility,  the  deep  faith,  the  firm 
hope — all  that  God  requires  of  the  sinner.  And  he  who 
was  come  to  seek  out  the  lost  sheep  of  the  house  of 
Israel,  and  who  had  said,  "  Whosoever  will  confess  me 
before  men,  I  will  confess  him  before  my  Father" — this 
Jesus,  the  only  Son  of  God,  replied  to  the  thief:  "  In 
truth,  this  very  day  you  will  be  with  me  in  Paradise." 

In  the  centre  of  this  indifferent,  hostile,  even  furious 
multitude,  at  the  foot  of  the  cross,  a  small  group  of 
four  persons   assuaged  the  sorrows  and   consoled   the 


j  The  Life  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ.  439 

1 

heart  of  the  Man-God.      Mary,  his  mother,  had  follow- 
ed him  thus  far.     She  heard  the  clamors,  the   insults, 

;             the  ribald  laughter  ;  she  beheld  the  blood  of  her  Son 
J  _,.__..    ., __.-_._J  ...t..    r.__    _r  .1 

) 

) 


flow  ;  she  remained  at  the  foot  of  the  cross,  her  heart 
pierced  with  grief,  broken  with  sorrow.  At  her  side 
were   Mary  her   sister,   wife   of    Cleophas,  mother   of 

]  those   whom   they  called    the   brothers   of  the   Lord  ; 

I  then  Mary  Magdalene,  the  notorious  sinner,  now  the  re- 

nowed  penitent  ;  and  John  alone  of  the  disciples. 
Peter  was  not  to  be  found  there  ;  we  cannot  believe 
that  fear  caused  him  to  run  away,  since  he  quitted 
weeping  the  court  of  Caiphas,  or  that  love  had  aban- 
doned him.  Perhaps  he  kept  away  a  little  further 
from  the  throng,  where  there  were  other  pious  women  ; 
perhaps  obeying  the  command  of  the  Lord  :  "  When 
you    shall    be  converted,   confirm  thy  brethren."     He 

I  was  engaged  in  reuniting    the  dispersed  apostles  and 

strengthening  their  faith.  If  there  were  here  a  just 
reason   for  accusing   Peter,  it   is    very  likely  it  would 

{  have  been  made   known   by  a  word   from  his  disciple, 

St.  Mark  the  Evangelist — that  is,  from  himself.  Be  that 
as  it  may,  our  Lord,  seeing  his  mother,  and  near  her 
the  disciple  whom  he  loved,  said  to  her:    "Woman, 


( 


behold   your  son";    and   forthwith    he   said   to    John, 
"  Behold   your  mother."     John   represented   the   chil- 


) 
) 

(  jj^uuiu     _ywi.ii      iiiuim.1.  j  wiiu     i^iJitstuitu      nic     V_i.Ul- 

\  dren  of  the  Church.      By  this  last  dying  will  from  the 

cross  Mary  was  given  to  be  a  mother  to  all  the  faith- 
ful, and   Christianity  was  enriched  with   a  superabun- 

)  dance  of  consolation  and  of  mercy. 

Jesus  had  now  accomplished  all  things  except  death. 

He   remained    silent,  and   the   sun   became   darkened. 
1 

5  This    darkness,  whicn   began    a  little    after  the  cruci- 

)  . 

fixion,  and  continued  till  the  moment  Jesus  yielded  up 

his  soul,  was  not  the  darkness  of  night,  as  the  joyous 


440  The  Life  of  our  Lord   ^csus  Christ. 

)  '  ( 

brightness  of  Bethlehem  was  not  the  light  of  day:    it 

was  a  sort  of  mourning  and  the   stupor  of  all  nature; 

)  it  was   the  sism  in   the   heavens  which   the    Tews   had 

)  ... 

demanded.    They  received  it  without  understanding  it, 

as  they  would   receive  without    understanding   it   the 

)  sign  of  Jonas. 

The  ninth  hour  had  arrived,  which  is,  according  to 

\  our  manner  of  computing,  the  third  hour  after  mid-day, 

or  three  o'clock  in  the  afternoon.  When  Adam  had 
sinned,  he  heard  the  voice  of  God  in  the  garden  of 
Paradise  ;  instantly  a  rumbling  wind  is  heard  after 
twelve  o'clock,  or  a  little  after  mid-day,  and  it  was  at 
that  moment  it  was  told  him  that  he  should  return 
again  into  dust  and  ashes.  At  that  same  hour  the 
new  Adam,  the  restorer  of  all  things,  breaks  silence, 
and  exclaims  with  a  powerful  voice:  "Eli,  Eli!  lam- 
ina sdbacthani?" — "My  God,  my  God!  why  have 
you  forsaken  me?"  These  are  the  first  words  of  the 
Twenty-first  Psalm,  prophetic  of  the  Passion,  whose 
principal  circumstances  it  describes.  Jesus  declares 
them  accomplished,  and  at  the  same  time,  as  man,  sub- 
missive to  pain  of  interior  forlornness,  he  revealed  here 
the  deepest  and  most  bitter  agony  of  his  soul.     . 

)  In  order  that  the  Scriptures  might  be  fulfilled  Jesus 

again  said  :    "  I  thirst."     An  expression  similar  to  this 

{  was  spoken  to  the  Samaritan  woman.    It  was  the  thirst 

for  the  salvation  of  souls.     It  is  repeated  here  with  the 

<  same  meaning  of  divine  love,  and  at  the  same  time  as 

}  the  expression  of  physical  suffering.     There  was  there 

a  vessel  full  of  vinegar.  One  of  the  assistants  steeped 
a  sponge  into  it,  fastened  it  to  the  end  of  a  reed,  and 
touched  with  it  the  lips  of  the  Crucified.  The  prophet 
had  written:  "In  my  thirst  they  gave  me  vine- 
gar to  drink."     Thenceforth   nothing   more  was  want- 


The  Life  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ. 


441 


ing  to  complete  the  details  of  sacrifice.  Jesus  said, 
"  All  is  consummated."  Then  again,  raising  up  his 
voice  loudly,  he  cried  out  :  "  My  Father,  into  your 
hands  I  commit  my  spirit  "  ;  and  inclining  the  head, 
he  yielded  up  his  soul. 

He  died  on  the  cross,  the  master,  the  conqueror  of 
death.  That  freedom  of  will  and  intelligence  on  the 
cross  ;  that  attestation  of  the  fulfilment  of  all  the  cir- 
cumstances announced  by  the  prophets;  that  great 
cry  ;  that  strength  regained  after  so  long  punishment, 
revealed  the  full  and  perfect  liberty  of  him  who  had 
said  :  "  I  have  the  power  to  give  away  my  life,  and  I 
have  the  power  to  retake  it."  Other  signs  forthwith 
manifested  the  glory  of  the  God  made  man.  The  veil 
of  the  Temple  is  rent,  leaving  the  ancient  mysteries  to 
vanish  ;  the  earth  trembles  ;  the  graves  are  opened  up 
and  the  dead  come  to  life  ;  souls  also  issue  forth  from 
darkness.  The  Roman  officer  who  presided  at  the 
execution  exclaimed  :  "  Truly,  this  man  was  the  Son 
of  God!" 

But  while  the  Gentile  praised  God  aloud,  the  Jews 
were  seized  with  fear,  struck  their  breasts,  and  returned 
silently  to  their  homes.  Nobody  confessed  the  crime; 
the  most  part  of  them  regretted  it  only  because  they 
began  to  tremble  that  the  name  of  Jesus  did  not  per- 
ish. However,  that  those  crucified  with  the  dear  Re- 
deemer might  not  remain  on  the  cross  exposed  during 
the  Sabbath — and  they  should  be  taken  away  the  same 
day — soldiers,  sent  by  Pilate  at  the  request  of  the  Jews, 
«broke  the  limbs  of  the  two  thieves  to  give  them  the 
finishing  stroke.  Seeing  that  Jesus  had  already  ceased 
to  live,  they  did  not  break  his  limbs,  but  one  of  the 
soldiers  pierced  his  side  with  a  sharp  lance,  and  from 
the  wound  blood  and  water  flowed.      According  to  the 


-112 


The  Life  of  our  Lord  yesîis  Christ. 


common  opinion  of  the  Fathers,  the  water  was  natural 
and  elementary;  the  water  typified  baptism,  and  the 
blood  typified  the  Eucharist.  This  is  why  the  Fathers 
say  that  the  Church,  whose  two  principal  sacraments 
are  here  represented,  issued  from  the  side  of  the  dead 
Jesus  Christ,  as  Eve  issued  from  the  side  of  Adam 
while  yet  asleep. 

These  circumstances  fulfilled  the  prophecies  :  "  You 
shall  not  break  a  bone  of  him.  They  shall  look  on  him 
whom  they  have  pierced."  -There  was  nothing  fortui- 
tous in  this  divine  scene.  From  the  beginning  to  the 
end  men,  in  executing  the  nefarious  and  long-medi- 
tated designs  of  their  malice,  and  in  yielding  them- 
selves up  to  the  quick  caprices  of  their  brutality,  have 
only  succeeded  in  rendering  more  vivid  the  light  which 
they  wished  to  extinguish,  and  brought  glory  when 
they  wished  to  accumulate  ignominy.  Divine  wisdom, 
which  baffled  them  in  the  present  time,  will  take  care 
to  baffle  them  in  the  future. 

It  was  as  prophet  that  Jesus,  master  of  the  circum- 
stances of  his  death,  fulfilled  the  prophecies.  He  knew 
well  what  heresy  would  invent  to  thoroughly  contest 
the  reality  of  his  sacrifice.  He  regulated  the  circum- 
stances of  it  in  a  manner  to  shelter  that  bread  by 
which  the  world  should  live.  From  the  very  first  ages 
of  the  Church  all  the  sophisms  that  are  ventilated  now- 
adays have  been  invented,  and  the  fathers  have  answer- 
ed them  by  arguments  which  still  preserve  all  their 
force.  The  Son  of  God,  they  said,  did  not  suffer  in  his 
divine  nature.  As  man  he  suffered,  and  it  was  neces- 
sary he  should  suffer.  If,  after  having  lived  on  the 
earth,  he  should  have  suddenly  disappeared,  he  would 
have  been  taken  for  a  spectre  or  an  apparition.  As  we 
prove  the  reality  and   incombustibility   of  a  vessel  by 


The  Life  of  our  Lord  yes  us  Christ.  443 

throwing  it  into  the  flames  and  drawing  it  out   intact, 
so  the  Word  of  God  proves  to  us  that  the  material  in- 
strument which  he  avails  himself  of  in  the  redemption 
of  the  human  race  is  altogether  real   and   more  power- 
ful  than  death.     By  yielding  it  up  to  death  .he  demon- 
strates its  nature  ;  and  by  overcoming  death  and  rising 
superior  to  it  he  demonstrates  his  divinity.     He  per- 
forms this  miracle  to  stifle  the  folly  that  deifies  mortal 
men,  and  thereby  he  taught  that  the  only  true  God  is 
he  who  in  death  is  triumphant  over   death   itself  and 
bears  it  away  vanquished  among  his  trophies.     He  has 
not  suffered  death  for  the  sake  of  his  personal  triumph, 
but  to  destroy  the  death  of  man;   and  this  is  why,  in 
yielding  up  his  body  of  his   own   free-will  and   of  his 
own  power,  he  nevertheless  suffered  a  public  and  vio- 
lent death.     If  his  body  had  been  subject  to  sickness, 
and  if  they  had  seen  it  dissolve  into   ashes,  it  would 
have  seemed  strange  that  he  who  healed  all  infirmities 
should   feel  their  attacks  and  fall  a  prey  to  them.      If, 
after  death  in  solitude,  without  sickness,  he  presented 
himself  anew,  how  could  we  credit  the  account  of  his 
death  and  his  resurrection? — for  he  must  die  before  he 
could    rise   again.      Why  should   he    have    announced 
publicly  his  resurrection  after  a  secret  death  ?     He  did 
not  wish  to  burden  our  faith  so  heavily  as  this,  and  give 
room  to  the  lies  which  men  would  not  be  slow  to  forge 
for  refusing  to  believe. 

It  was  said  that  he  should  at  least  have  sought  a 
glorious  death  and  escaped  those  frightful  and  revolting 
ignominies.  No,  no  ;  he  courted  that  cruel  death. 
He  voluntarily  yielded  his  cheeks  to  buffetings,  his 
brow  to  the  crown  of  thorns,  his  face  to  the  spittle  of 
the  rabble,  his  back  to  scourges,  his  hands  and  his  feet 
to  be  pierced  with  cruel  nails,  his  side  to  the  lance,  his 


444  The  Life  of  our  Lord  J-esus  Christ. 

lips  to  gall,  and  his  whole  body  to  the  cross.  It  was 
necessary  that  the  world  should  know  what  hand 
afflicted  him  ;  it  was  necessary  that  those  ignominies 
should  strengthen  for  ever  the  victims  of  cruelty  and 
injustice,  shed  a  ray  of  light  on  the  wounds  of  the  in- 
nocent, and  flow  like  a  salutary  balsam  even  on  the  law- 
ful, just  sufferings  of  the  guilty  ;  it  was  necessary  that 
•  into  the  dark  and  dismal  prison,  into  the  very  degrada- 
tion of  brothels,  this  vivifying  Son  of  the  Cross  should 
shine  for  ever. 

A  mild  or  glorious  death  !  You  would  have  then 
seen  human  imbecility  dare  to  suspect  God  of  not 
having  power  against  every  species  of  death.  The 
athlete  overthrows  the  antagonist  that  encounters  him. 
He  who  is  the  Life  has  overcome  death  as  it  was  pre- 
sented to  him.  The  most  cruel,  the  most  shameful 
death,  the  most  immemorially  and  most  universally 
cursed — that  death  which  could  best  cast  disgrace  and 
obloquy  upon  him — that  is  the  death  that  he  wished 
to  annihilate,  in  order  to  annihilate  with  it  its  oppro- 
briums and  its  maledictions.  But  he  was  not  decapi- 
tated, like  John  ;  nor  mutilated,  cut  to  pieces,  like  Isaias, 
nor  crushed  to  death,  like  others  who  were  persecuted. 
It  was  necessary  that  his  body  should  remain  whole 
and  indivisible  in  death,  that  it  might  not  serve  as  a  pre- 
text for  those  who  would  wish  to  divide  the  Church. 
He  dies,  his  arms  extended  on  the  cross,  so  as  to 
draw  to  him  with  the  one  hand  the  ancient  people  and 
)  with  the  other  the  nations  called,  and  to  reunite  them- 

selves in  him.  He  dies,  raised  on  high,  to  expel  the 
demons  that  hovered  in  the  air,  and  to  prepare  for  us 
the  way  that  leads  to  heaven. 

"And  God  was  in  Jesus  Christ,  reconciling  the  world 
to  himself." 


ïmmmmim  *mmms^ 

SB  sJi 

l^^^^fe^^^î  H^^^ 

CHAPTER   IV. 


THE    SIGN    OF    THE    CROSS. 


IN  antiquity  the  cross  was  looked  upon  as  a  thing 
mean  and  hideous,  whereon  all  infamies  of  punish- 
ment were  concentrated.  It  bears  this  character  in 
Holy  Writ  :  "  The  dead  body  of  him  who  is  hung  shall 
not  remain  all  night  on  the  gibbet,  but  he  shall  be 
buried  the  same  day;  because  he  who  hangs  on  the 
wood  is  cursed  of  God."  It  is  because  of  this  law  that 
Isaias,  speaking  prophetically  of  Christ,  said  :  "  He  ap- 
peared to  us  an  object  of  derision  and  the  most  de- 
spised of  men";  and  further  on  he  calls  him  "  the  Hu- 
miliated One."  The  cross  was  not  only  a  punishment, 
but  a  curse,  a  malediction  :  "  Cursed  is  he  who  hangs 
on  the  tree."  Thence  the  prophetic  cry  of  the  Book  of 
Wisdom,  "  Let  us  condemn  him  to  the  most  shameful 
death,"  repeated  with  such  fury  by  the  Jews  in  this 
sole  word  :  "  Crucify  him  " — that  is,  "  Let  him  die  and 
let  him  be  accursed."  They  hoped  that  the  ignominy 
of  the  punishment  might  destroy  what  death  alone 
could  not  crush.  It  did  not  enter  into  their  minds  that 
they  would  behold  men  on  earth  who  would  declare 
themselves  followers  of  him  who  hung  upon  a  cross. 

The  Romans  looked  upon  the  cross  as  ua  fatal  tree, 
as  an  unfortunate  wood  "  ;  in  a  word,  they  considered 
it    the    punishment    of    slaves.     Tarquin    ordered    the 


446  The  Life  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ. 


bodies  of  the  citizens  who  were  condemned  to  death  to 
be  suspended  on  the  cross  because  they  would  not  work 
in  his  sewers.  Gracchus  crucified  on  the  infamous  cross 
his  rival,  Publius  Pompilius.  Seneca  said  that  such  in- 
famy is  one  of  those  horrors  that  should  be  prevented  by 
suicide.  Cicero  in  his  oration  against  Verres,  apropos  of 
the  cross  of  Gavianus,  expresses  his  horror  of  the  cross  : 
"  Frightful  is  the  ignominy  of  public  condemnation, 
frightful  is  banishment,  frightful  is  confiscation  ;  never- 
theless, amid  all  these  calamities  some  vestige  of  liberty 
yet  remains  among  us,  and  even  death  itself,  if  it  be 
inflicted  on  us,  we  submit  to  free  from  every  trammel. 
But,  oh  !  let  not  the  hangman,  the  black  cap  for  the 
head,  the  name  of  the  cross — let   not  all  that  infamy 

s  touch  a  Roman  citizen  in  his  body  or  in  his  mind." 

Plutarch  relates  that  even  in  his  time  they  paraded 
with  great  pomp  a  dog  attached  to  a  cross,  in  memory 
of  the  surprising  of  the  capital  when   the  dogs   had  ( 

slept.  \ 

These  details  make  us  understand  what  St.  Paul  will 

\  call  the  scandal  and  the  folly  of  the  cross.      Minutius  \ 

Felix   spoke   to  the  idolaters  of  the   stupidity  of  their  \ 

?  gods,  hewn  out  of  the  débris  of  the  funeral  pile  or  from  > 

the  tree   of  ignominy.     In  their  turn  the  idolaters  re- 

\  1  ) 

proached  the  Christians  with  the  mad  folly  of  adoring 

a  God  who  died  suspended  on  a  cross  ;  and  the  Jews, 

always  attached  to  the  nakedness  of  the  letter,  pretend-  ( 

ed  that  he  could  not  be  the  Son  of  God  who  suffered  a 

punishment  that  God  had  cursed. 

And  yet,  at  the  same  time,  the  mystery  of  the  cross 

was  foreseen  by  the  Jews  and  the  pagans  themselves. 

Long  before  Christ  both  the  one  and  the  other  prayed 

through  the  sign  of  the  cross.     This  sign  of  the  cross 

is,  in  one  way  or  other,  the  essential  gesture,  the  very 


The  Life  of  our  Lord  jfesîis  Christ.  447 

attitude,  of  prayer.  Jacob,  type  of  the  Messias,  crossed 
his  arms  when  he  invoked  the  benediction  of  heaven 
on  the  two  sons  of  Joseph,  placing  the  right  hand  on 
the  head  of  him  who  is  at  his  left,  and  the  left  on  the 
head  of  him  who  was  at  his  right.  Thus  placed,  said 
Tertullian,  the  hands  of  the  patriarch  formed  the  cross 
and  announced  the  benedictions  that  would  descend 
from  the  Crucified.  Moses,  whilst  the  battle  was  rag- 
ing against  the  Amalechites,  ascended  in  silence  the 
mountain,  and  there  standing,  with  open  hands  and 
extended  arms,  the  living  sign  of  the  cross,  he  prayed, 
and  the  Hebrews  were  the  conquerors.  For  the  battle 
of  the  Lord  fought  against  Amalech  prefigured  the 
battles  of  the  Incarnate  Word  against  Satan,  enemy 
of  the  cross,  by  which  he  was  bound  to  be  conquered. 

We  know  through  Jesus  Christ  himself  the  significa- 
tion of  the  brazen  serpent  attached  to  the  cross  in  the 
desert,  and  the  sight  of  which  alone  healed  the  bite  of 
the  serpents  :  "  As  Moses  elevated  the  serpent  in  the 
desert,  so  was  it  necessary  that  the  Son  of  Man  should 
be  lifted  up,  in  order  that  whosoever  believed  in  him 
should  not  perish,  but  should  obtain  eternal  life." 

The  sign  of  the  cross  was  made  in  the  Temple.  The 
priest  first  elevated  the  victim  of  the  sacrifice;  he  then 
bore  it  from  the  east  to  the  west.  And  in  the  same 
manner  the  priests  blessed  the  people.  The  Christian 
priesthood  had  only  to  add  the  august  words  which 
are,  with  the  sign  of  the  cross,  the  abridgment  of  the 
whole  of  Christianity  :  In  the  name  of  the  Father,  and 
of  the  Son,  and  of  the  Holy  Ghost. 

In  Ezechiel  a  mysterious  personage  received  the 
order  to  travel  through  Jerusalem,  sullied  with  abomi- 
nations ;  he  marked  on  the  forehead  with  the  sign  *J« 
those    who    lamented    the    public    iniquity,  and    they 


448  The  Life  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ. 

\  should  be  saved,  and  the  others  should  be  put  to  death. 

Behold  the  cross  and  its  virtue.  Thus,  said  the  fathers, 
the  man  shall  be  saved  who  marks  his  forehead  with 
the   salutary  sign   of  the  cross,  lamenting  the  crimes 

X  that  this  sign  interdicts. 

It  was  in  the  form  of  a  cross  with  extended  arms 
that  Samson  avenged  Israel  ;  that  David  demanded  aid 
against  his  parricidal  son  and  against  his  revolting 
subjects;  and  that  Solomon  gave  thanks  to  God  for 
being  able  to  complete  the  Temple,  saying  to  him  • 
"  Lord,  hearken  to  my  prayer."     It  was  thus   that  all 

)  the  inhabitants  of  Israel,  in  the  presence  of  Sennach 

i  erib,   the    conquerer,   invoked    God    and    were    heard, 

"  Extending  their  hands,  they  elevated  them  towards 

)  heaven." 

The  pagans  adored  by  carrying  the  right  hand  to 

{  the  left  and   kissing  it  ;    but  at  first  this  right  hand 

)  formed  a  mysterious  sign  by  the  crossing  of  the   fore- 

finger on  the  thumb.     On   the  most  solemn  occasions 

s  they  prayed  after  the  manner  of  the  Jews,  with  hands 

extended   toward    heaven  or  crossed   on  their  breast. 

X  This    is  what    Brutus    did    on    learning  the  death    of 

\  Lucretia;    what  Anchises  did  on    the  sea-shore,  with 

extended  hands  invoking  the  great  gods.     There  was 

\  at  Rome  a  statue  of  "  Public  Piety,"  the  arms  extend- 

ed in  the  form  of  a  cross,  like  Moses.  In  the  monu- 
ments of  all  nations  we  find  marks  and  presentiments 
of  the  mystery  of  the  cross.* 

St.  Augustine  applies  to  the  cross  the  words  of  St. 
Paul,  wishing  the  faithful  to  comprehend  the  length 
and  breadth,  the  height  and  depth,  of  the  mystery  of 

)  *  J.  Gretser,  De  Sancta  Cruce,  Ingolstadt,  1616.     Mgr.  Gaume  gives 

the  substance  of  this  learned  work  and  some  others  in  an  excellent 
little  volume  entitled  The  Sign  of  the  Cross  in  the  Nineteenth  Century. 


The  Life  of  our  Lord  yes  us  Christ.  449 

Jesus  Christ.  The  breadth  of  the  cross  is  the  exten- 
sion of  love  we  owe,  without  distinction  of  friends  or  ( 
enemies,  to  those  for  whom  Jesus  Christ  died,  as  well  as  ( 
to  ourselves  ;  its  length,  to  teach  us  patience  in  the  midst 
of  adversity  ;  its  height,  the  soaring  upward  we  must 
take  above  and  beyond  terrestrial  things  to  enter  into 
eternal  peace  ;  its  depth,  that  hidden  profoundness  of 
the  secrets  of  God,  resolved  to  save  the  world,  lost  by 
its  own  wisdom,  and  to  save  it  by  the  folly  of  the 
cross. 

Yet  a  little  while,  and  all  shall  be  known  ;  men  shall 
know  why  this  shameful  cross  made  its  impress  on  so 
many  great  and  essential  things  of  life,  and  is  offered 
as  the  natural  action  of  the  soul  in  the  presence  of 
God.  From  the  foot  of  the  cross  the  army  of  martyrs 
)  rose  up  to  march  to  the  conquest  of  the  world   by  the 

\  sign  of  the  cross.  ( 

"We  pray,"   says   Tertullian,  "  with    hands    extend- 
\  ed,  because  they  are   innocent  ;   with  head   uncovered, 

)  because    we    have    no    reason   to   blush  ;    without    our 

words  being  prompted,  because  it  is  our  heart  that 
prays.  We  implore  for  all  the  emperors  a  long 
life,  security  in  their  palaces,  valor  in  their  armies, 
fidelity  in    the   senate,  honesty  in  the   people,   peace  j 

)  in  the   world,    and  all   that   a   man  and    an    emperor 

can  or  ought  to  desire."  The  emperors  sent  to  the 
Amphitheatre  those  who  prayed  thus,  and  their  death 
was   not   the   only  miracle  that    taught    the    power  oî  j 

the    cross.     One    day,    under  Diocletian,   the    Amphi- 
theatre was  filled   with  the  faithful   of  Christ.     With 
;  hands    outstretched    and    eyes    raised    up    to    heaven, 

they   remained    immovable,    without    manifesting   any 
)  fear,  without  repeating  a  word.     The  spectators  trém- 

ie bled  and  the  judges  were  affrighted.     The  wild  beasts 

\ 
) 

) 


45° 


The  Life  of  oar  Lord  yesus  Christ. 


were  let  loose.  They  rushed  on  roaring  ;  but  the 
whole  people  saw  them  stop  as  if  muzzled  before  a 
young  man  of  less  than  twenty  years,  who,  standing  in 
the  midst  of  the  arena,  with  arms  foldechin  the  form  of 
a  cross,  gave  himself  up  to  Jesus  Christ,  and  deigned  to 
think  neither  on  the  ferocious  beasts,  nor  on  the  peo- 
ple, nor  on  death.  Another  time  at  Rome  the  vir- 
gin Agnes,  aged  thirteen  years,  condemned  to  die 
by  fire,  mounted  serenely  on  the  funeral  pile  ;  she 
stretched  out  her  arms,  blessing  Jesus  Christ,  who  pre- 
served her  from  the  impurities  of  the  devil,  and  the 
flames,  rushing  from  her,  threatened  those  who  had  lit 
them  up.  God  wishes  that  many  such  prodigies 
should  manifest  the  virtue  and  power  of  the  sacrifice 
of  Jesus  Christ.  He  multiplies  them  without  frustrat- 
ing his  martyrs,  through  mercy  for  their  executioners  ; 
and  it  was  thus  that  for  three  ages  the  world  learned 
to  make  the  sign  of  the  cross. 


CHAPTER  V. 


THE   SEPULTURE. 


THE  virtue  of  the  cross,  which  many  had  already 
experienced,  continued  to  manifest  itself.  While 
the  apostles  themselves,  with  the  exception  of  John,  and 
perhaps  Peter,  had  yet  hid  themselves,  the  centurion 
spoke,  and  both  disciples,  hitherto  concealed,  fearlessly 
presented  themselves. 

A  rich  man  and  esteemed  for  his  many  virtues, 
named  Joseph,  of  the  city  of  Arimathea,  member  of 
the  Sanhedrim,  had  the  courage  to  present  himself 
before  the  governor  in  the  capacity  of  disciple,  and 
demand  of  him  the  body  of  Jesus  to  inter  it.  Pilate 
gave  it  to  him.  Forthwith  Joseph  betook  himself  to 
Calvary,  accompanied  by  Nicodemus,  his  colleague  in 
the  great  council,  and  who,  like  Joseph,  protested 
against  the  sentence  rendered  in  the  morning.  Joseph 
purchased  a  new  winding-sheet.  Nicodemus  brought 
a  sufficient  quantity  of  myrrh  and  balm.  Without  fear- 
ing the  looks  or  hatred  of  the  Jews,  or  the  legal  un- 
cleanness  incurred  by  whoever  touched  a  dead  body, 
they  took  Jesus  down  from  the  cross.  It  was  a  strange 
office  for  persons  of  their  condition  in  life,  and  there 
was  no  greater  proof  of  the  love  Jesus  inspired.  If  we 
reflect  on  the  circumstances,  we  will  see  therein  the  first 
miracle  of  that  spirit  of  strength  and  light  which  the 

451 


4e2  The  Life  of  our  Lord  yesus  Christ. 

Master  had  so  often  announced  to  those  who  believed 

\  on  him.  < 

The  Holy  Virgin  remained  at  the   foot  of  the  cross, 
also  John,  Mary  Magdalene,  and  others.      From  a  tra-  j 

dition  preserved  by  the  most  ancient  interpreters, 
Nicodemus  drew  out  the  nails  from  his  sacred  body, 
Joseph  supported  the  body,  Mary  Magdalene  and  John 
wept  profusely.  The  mother  of  Jesus,  without  tears, 
offered  to  God  what  his  justice  required  ;  and  this  sacri- 
fice could  not  exceed  her  love.  As  the  nails,  one 
by  one,  were  plucked  out  of  the  sacred  body  of  her 
Son,  stained  with  his  blood,  she  carefully  treasured 
them  up  in  her  bosom.  When  the  body  was  taken 
down  from  the  cross,  she  embraced  it  in  her  arms   and 


; 

) 

) 
) 

; 

\  pressed    it  to    her  virginal    bosom,  that    had    suckled 

him.     Mary  Magdalene   once  more    covered  with  her  \ 

\  kisses  and  bathed  with  her  tears   the   sacred   feet  that 

\  had  brought  her  salvation  ;  again  John  reclined  his  head 

on    that  sacred  bosom    that    had  embraced  him,  and 

from  whence  his  intelligence    and    his    heart    carried 

away  what  man  could  know  of  the  secrets  of  God. 

After  the  stroke   of  the  lance  which   caused  blood 

\  and  water  freely  to  flow,  all  those  who  touch  the  body 

of  the  Saviour  belong  to  the  Church.  The  enemies 
are  withdrawn  ;  the  Church  alone  is  present,  having 
Mary  at  its  head.  She  appropriates  to  herself  the 
body  of  Jesus  to  reproduce  it  by  the  Eucharistie  con- 
secration, and  always  to  preserve  it. 

Joseph  and  Nicodemus   proceeded  to  inter  the   body 

\  according  to  the  Jewish   custom.     They  anointed  the 

body  with  costly  perfumes;  they  tightly  enveloped  it 
in  linen  bandages  that  they  brought  with  them,  and 
covered    the    face  with    a  shroud.      Those   cares    and 

\  anxieties    for    his    burial  which    testify  to  their    piety 

) 
I 


~1 


The  Life  of  our  Lord  J^esus  Christ.  453 

also  testify  that  at  that  moment  they  had  but  little 
remembrance  of  the  promises  of  the  resurrection,  or 
that  they  understood  it  otherwise  than  in  a  literal 
sense.  God  permitted  it  to  establish  so  much  the 
more  against  the  future  demurrers  the  reality  of  his 
flesh,  the  reality  of  his  death,  and  the  reality  of  his  re- 
surrection. Like  those  who  murdered  him,  these 
faithful  followers,  in  their  turn,  touched  him  with  their 
hands.  They  beheld  his  adorable  countenance  torn 
and  mangled  with  long,  sharp  thorns  ;  his  long  hair  all 
besmeared  and  clotted  with  his  divine  blood  ;  the 
bruises  and  the  deep  wounds  ;  the  large  wound  in  his 
side.  They  beheld  the  eyes  dull  and  lifeless  ;  the  death- 
coldness  and  insensibility  of  the  body;  the  reality  of 
life  and  the  reality  of  death.  In  favor  of  weak-minded 
Christians  who  lend  an  ear  to  everything  invented  to 
destroy  the  efficacy  or  the  fruit  of  the  cross  of  Calvary, 
we  must  add  that,  if  Jesus  had  not  succumbed  to  the 
tortures  of  the  Passion  and  of  the  cross,  the  disciples 
themselves  would  have  put  him  to  death  (had  he  re- 
tained a  breath  of  life)  by  the  fact  of  burying  him. 
\  Since,  then,  they  have  attested,  at   the  risk  of  their 

\  lives,  that  he  had  died  and   had  arisen,  they  are  credi- 

ble witnesses  ;  for  they  have  seen  him  and  touched 
him.  And  if  they  had  not  seen  him  again  and  touched 
him  living,  nothing  could  be  weaker  or  more  uncertain 
than  their  faith  in  the  resurrection.  After  the  consum- 
matum  est  love  remains  ;  faith  is  extinguished.  This 
is  what  the  Church  expresses  on  Good  Friday  when 
she  extinguishes  successively  all  the  wax  tapers  save 
one  only,  which  represents  Mary.  In  the  heart  of 
Mary  faith  cannot  perish  ;  but  the  august  confidant 
kept  the  divine  secret  treasured  up  in  her  holy  and 
j  pure  heart. 


L~, 


The  Life  of  our  Lord  ffesus  Christ. 

When  the  funeral  rites  were  terminated,  Joseph, 
Nicodemus,  and  John  carried  the  body  into  the  garden 
near  Golgotha.  There  was  found  there  a  sepulchre 
hewn  in  the  rock,  quite  new,  which  Joseph  had  destin- 
ed for  himself.  Jesus  had  not  had  a  cradle,  and  they 
were  forced  to  borrow  a  sepulchre  for  him.  Even  in 
death  the  Son  of  Man  had  not  a  stone  whereon  to  lay 
his  bead.  These  are  the  dispositions  of  his  providence 
and  the  teachings  of  his  wisdom.  Nothing  proves  bet- 
ter, on  the  one  side,  that  all  belongs  to  him,  and  on 
the  other  that  he  was  born  into  this  world  and  died  for 
all  mankind.  Why  should  the  ownership  of  the  sepul- 
chre belong  to  him  who  had  control  over  his  own 
death  ?  Why  a  tomb  in  the  earth  for  him  who  is  ever- 
lasting in  heaven  ?  The  sepulchre  is  the  habitation  of 
the  dead  ;  the  Christ  is  the  life.  Eternally  living,  he 
had  no  need  of  the  dwelling  of  the  dead. 

However,  this  sepulchre  wherein  he  is  placed,  only  to 
pass  through,  rather  asleep  than  as  one  lying  dead,  was 
cut  out  from  a  rock — not  dug  in  the  earth  or  built  with 
hands — so  as  to  answer  those  who  should  and  would 
dare  to  proclaim  that  the  body  had  been  taken  away  fur- 
tively from  it.  It  was  new  to  symbolize  something  of 
the  virginity  of  the  womb  of  Mary.  The  sepulchre 
that  received  the  body  of  the  Lord,  says  a  father,  had 
always  been  immaculate  as  the  womb  that  conceived 
him.  It  was  a  virginal  womb  that  begot  him  ;  it  was  a 
new  sepulchre  that  received  him.  Joseph,  who  gave 
him  this  sepulchre,  is  named  the  Just,  as  Mary  is  called 
the  Virgin.  In  the  womb  of  the  Virgin  there  is  found 
no  stain  of  sin  ;  in  the  sepulchre  of  the  Just  there  is  no 
corruption.  No  part. of  this  poor  and  suffering  body 
is  separated  from  purity  and  sanctity.  True  man,  he 
accepted  the  humanity  of  its  most  humiliating  condi- 


The  Life  of  our  Lord  J-esus  Christ.  455 

tion  ;    true   God,  he    has    everywhere    this    society  of 
purity,  alone  worthy  of  his  sanctity. 

The  holy  women  followed  to  the  tomb,  proposing  to 
themselves  to  return  to  supply  what  might  be  wanting. 
Ail  being  completed,  with  a  little  precipitation  on 
account  of  the  hour,  the  men  close  up  the  entrance 
to  the  monument,  rolling  a  stone  of  great  dimensions 
against  it,  and  go  away.  The  stars  of  the  Sabbath 
morning  appear  in  the  heavens.  The  women  remain 
yet  a  little  while,  then  return  to  Jerusalem  and  dwell 
in  repose  the  Sabbath  day,  according  to  the  law. 

For  the  first  time  the  Sabbath  received  its  propheti- 
cal signification,  thenceforth  accomplished.  What  is 
said  in  Genesis,  that  God,  having  accomplished  the  work 
of  the  creation  in  six  days,  rested  on  the  seventh  day, 
is  a  prophecy  of  the  labor  of  the  Redeemer.  For  God 
was  not  fatigued  in  creating  the  world,  he  has  had  no 
need  of  rest  and  does  not  rest.  All  things  were  made 
by  the  fiat  of  his  omnipotence  by  a  word  :  Ipse  dixit  et 
facta  sunt.  And  as  he  created  he  still  creates,  preserves, 
renews,  and  governs  all.  My  Father  acts  without  ceas- 
ing; incessantly  laboring,  says  the  Redeemer.  But 
the  redemption,  the  work  of  the  Man-God,  was  a  long 
and  hard  labor,  which  really  fatigued  the  Divine 
Worker.  It  has  cost  Jesus  Christ  more  to  scatter  the 
darkness  of  idolatry  than  to  create  the  light,  and  to  re- 
store in  man  the  image  of  God  disfigured  by  sin  than 
to  form  it  for  the  first  time.  The  Scripture,  then,  in 
relating  that  God  the  Creator  rested  in  himself  the 
seventh  day  has  predicted  that  God  the  Redeemer,  the 
God- Man,  shall  rest  on  the  seventh  day  in  the  tomb  after 
the  accomplishment  of  the  work  of  the  redemption.  This 
is  why  on  Holy  Saturday  the  history  of  the  repose  of 
God  is  read  under  the  .title  of  prophecy.     This  is  also 


456  The  Life  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ. 

why  Saturday,  the  day  on  which  this  mystery  was  ac- 
complished, is  so  solemn  among  the  Jews;  and  it  is 
accomplished  in  fact  on  the  day  of  the  great  Sabbath, 
solemn  among  all.  This  is  the  reason  why  the  sepul- 
chre of  Christ,  linking  together  the  mystery  of  his 
death   and   the   mystery   of  his    resurrection,    proving  j 

both,    is   mentioned    in   the    Apostles'    Creed — Sepul- 
l  tus.  I 

But  at  the  same  time  that  he  fulfilled  the  prophe- 
cies, terminated  his  work,  and  rested,  the  God-Man 
did  not  cease  to  act.  Entombed,  he  completed  the 
teaching  he  wished  to  impart,  and   he  adds  a  grace  to  ( 

all  he  had  already  given.  In  order  to  resemble  man 
more,  he  assumes  the  inevitable  humiliation  of  the 
winding-sheet   and   of  the   tomb.      But   through    pure  j 

mercy  for   fallen    man    he    turns  its   horrors   into  joy.  ( 

That  night  through  which  we  must  pass  he  passed 
through  before  us.  We  find  him  in  it  yet.  This'  road 
which  we  must  take  is  one  of  his  ways,  and,  like  all  his 
ways,  it  leads  to  him — it  leads  to  heaven.  He  made  a 
people  that  fears  not  sufferings,  that  fears  not  the 
cross,  that  fears  not  the  tomb,  that  rather  sighs  for  all 
these.     With  eyes   fixed  on  Jesus,  we  say  in  the  same  ) 

sense,  Either  repose  in  the  tomb  or  repose  in  heaven.  ^ 

Whilst  the  friends  of  Jesus,  through  respect  for  the 
law,  the  abrogation  of  which  they  did  not  yet  under- 
stand, were  prevented  from  gratifying  their  piety  and 
giving  vent  to  their  grief,  the  Pharisees,  so  scrupulous 
observers  of  the  Sabbath,  were  not  afraid  to  violate  it. 
But  little  encouraged  by  the  events  of  the  watching, 
and  remembering  what  the  disciples  forgot,  they  went 
to  seek  Pilate.  "  Master,"  they  said  to  him,  "  that  se- 
ducer whilst  he  lived  declared  that  at  the  end  of  three 
days  he  would  rise  up   again.     Command,  then,  that  a 


TJie  Life  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ.  457 

( 
guard    should    be  placed  around  the   tomb   for  three 

days;  for  "if  his  disciples  steal  away  the  body  and  re- 
late to  the  people  that  he  has  arisen,  this  will  be  a  new 
error  worse  than  the  first."  < 

By  dreading  the  designs  of  the  disciples,  the  Phari- 
sees had  too  well  manifested  their  own  timidity.  They 
feared  yet  another  thing  :  they  feared  a  miracle.  Pilate 
said  to  them:  "Do  as  you  think  best."  Then  they 
returned  to  the  sepulchre  and  sealed  the  mighty  stone 
that  enclosed  it,  and  placed  a  guard  of  soldiers  over  it. 
They  were  not  aware  what  a  testimony  they  came  to 
seal. 


BOOK    IX. 


JESUS  ARISEN. 


CHAPTER     I. 


THE   RESURRECTION. 


WE  are  ignorant  of  the  precise  moment  of  the  re- 
surrection. It  took  place  about  the  dawn  of  the 
third  day,  between  the  first  dawn  and  rising  of  the  sun. 
Of  his  own  power,  without  other  aid  or  intervention, 
without  breaking  or  displacing  the  huge  stone,  but 
penetrating  it  by  the  subtility  of  his  own  glorified  and 
glorious  body,  Jesus  issued  forth  from  the  tomb  as  he 
issued  forth  from  the  immaculate  womb  of  his  Virgin 
Mother. 

The  guard  noticed  nothing.  They  saw  not  the  Man- 
God  ;  they  were  not  worthy  to  behold  him.  They  wit- 
nessed another  spectacle.  The  earth  trembled,  the 
angel  of  the  Lord  descended  from  heaven  and  rolled 
back  the  enormous  stone  and  sat  upon  it,  his  coun- 
tenance brighter  than  the  sun,  and  his  garment 
whiter  and  purer  than  the  snow.  The  guards  appeared 
as  if  they  were  dead.  But  when  the  angel  opened  the 
sepulchre  the  Christ  had  already  departed  from  it. 
There   only  remained  the  habiliments   of  death — -wit- 


The  Life  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ.  4Sn 

nesses  that  he  had  passed  out  of  it.  During  this  time 
Mary  Magdalene,  Mary  mother  of  James,  and  Mary  of 
Salome,  mother  of  John,  betook  themselves  to  the  se- 
pulchre, carrying  aromatics  which  they  had  prepared. 
They  set  out  early  in  the  morning  ;  but  Mary  Magda- 
lene had  preceded  the  other  two. 

Magdalene  arrived  before  the  day  dawned,  and  saw 
the  sepulchre  open.  The  guards  had  fled  in  terror. 
She  delays  not,  but  returns  to  notify  Peter  and  John. 
She  said  to  them:  "They  have  taken  away  the  Lord." 
the  two  apostles  ran.  John  arrived  the  first,  looked 
in,  saw  the  linens  in  which  his  sacred  body  was  en- 
wrapped, but  did  not  enter.  Peter  entered,  saw  also 
the  bandages,  and  the  winding-sheet  folded  up  in  a 
spot  aside.  Then  John  began  to  believe  in  the  resur- 
rection, but  with  an  imperfect  belief  in  what  he  saw, 
not  in  what  Jesus  had  told  him.  Neither  himself  nor 
Peter  understood  yet  what  the  Scriptures  contained, 
nor  did  they  understand  what  they  had  heard  :  that  it 
was  necessary  that  Jesus  should  arise  from  among  the 
dead.  They  then  returned,  Peter  greatly  astonished 
in  himself  at  all  this. 

Mary  Magdalene  returns  with  them  to  the  tomb, 
and  she  could  not  be  forced  to  quit  it.  She  remained 
there  alone,  and  wept  bitterly.  While  sobbing  and 
lamenting,  stooping  down  to  look  into  the  sepulchre, 
she. saw  two  angels  seated  where  the  body  of  the  Lord 
had  been  placed,  the  one  at  the  head,  the  other  at  the 
feet.  One  of  them  said  to  her  :  "  Woman,  why  do  you 
weep  ?  "  Absorbed  in  her  sorrow,  not  even  regarding 
the  angels,  she  cries  out  :  "  They  have  taken  away  my 
Lord,  and  I  know  not  where  they  have  put  him."  She 
searched  through  the  garden,  as  if  she  hoped  to  find 
him. 


he  regarded  them  as   being  yet  nearer  and  dearer  to 
him  than  before. 

St.  Mark  adds  to  this  recital:  "Thus  Jesus,  having 
risen    in    the   morning   early,  appeared    first    to    Mary 


^60  The  Life  of  our  Lord  yesus  Christ. 

At  this  moment  a  man  appeared  to  her  standing 
whom  she  did  not  recognize,  and  who  thus  spoke  to 
her:  "  Woman,  why  do  you  weep?  What  are  you  cry- 
ing for?  Whom  do  you  seek?"  She  thought  that  the 
man  was  the  gardener  ;  and,  her  mind  bent  always  on 
the  object  of  her  love,  directing  her  looks  toward  the  se- 
pulchre, she  replied  :  "If  you  be  the  one  who  has 
taken  him  away,  tell  me  now  where  you  have  put 
him,  and  I  will  carry  him  away." 

What  an  expression  !  A  commentator  remarks  how 
valorous  and   loving  she  was.     "  I  myself,  a  woman  ;   I 

\  all  alone  ;   I  am  strong  enough  ;   I  will  take  him  in  my 

)  arms,  and  I  will  carry  him  away." 

Jesus  (for  it  was  himself,  whom  she  did  not  recog- 

)  nize)    said    to    her,    "  Mary."      Then    she    knew    him. 

She  turns  about  and  exclaims,  "  My  Master  !  "     Forth-  ( 

with  she  casts  herself  at  his  feet  and  clasps  them  in  ) 

her  arms.     Jesus  told  her  not  to  thus  hold  on  to  his 

)  feet  as  if  she  could  see  him  no  more  ;  that  he  had  not 

yet  ascended  to  his  Father — that  is  to  say,  that  he 
would  remain  yet  many  days  with  his  own.  He  adds  : 
"  Go,  find  out  my  brothers,  and  convey  to  them  these 

]  words  :  I  ascend  to  my  Father  and  to  your  Father  ;  to 

my  God  and  to  your  .God."  By  what  message  more 
tender  could  he  reassure  them  or  fortify  them  against 

)  the  fear  that  their  abandonment  of  him  had  diminished 

> 

his  affection  for  them?     St.  Paul  gives   us   to  under- 
stand that  his  goodness  exerted  itself  to  ward  off  and 
prevent  another  weakness,  wishing  especially  to  point 
)  out  to  them  that,  far  from  forgetting  them  in  his  glory, 


s 

The  Life  of  our  Lord  jresus  Christ.  461 

) 

Magdalene,  out  of  whom  he  had  cast  seven  devils." 

\  And    thus,  says    St.  Jerome,  he    has    shown  that   the 

sinners  and  publicans  will  precede  the  synagogue 
in  the  kingdom  of  heaven,  as  the  penitent  thief  pre- 
ceded the  apostles  thereto.  But  the  seven  devils — 
that  is,  the  seven  vices — are  here  recalled,  as  Bede  re- 
marks, so  that  no  sinner,  having  done  penance,  should 

)  despair  of  pardon,  for  we    see   grace  to  superabound 

)  there  where  sin  had  abounded. 

When  Mary  Magdalene  went  back  to  the  apostles, 
Mary  mother  of  James  the  Less,  and  Mary  Salome 
mother  of  John,  arrived  at  or  turned  back  to  the  sepul- 
chre, accompanied  by  Joanna  wife  of  Chusa,  and  other 
holy  women  who  had  waited  on  Jesus.  It  was  now 
daybreak.  The  sun  had  arisen.  They  remained,  all  dis- 
pirited at  finding  the  sepulchre  empty.  Suddenly  two  ( 
men  appeared  clothed  with  brilliant  robes,  and  in  their  r 
fear  they  turned  their  faces  toward  the  ground.  But 
an  angel  (without  doubt  he  who  had  removed  the 
stone,  and  before  whom  the  guards  had  fled)  said  to 
them  :  "  Be  not  afraid.  I  know  that  you  are  in  quest 
of  Jesus  of  Nazareth,  who  was  crucified.  Why  do  you 
seek  among  the  dead  him  who  is  living  ?  He  is  not 
here  ;  he  is  risen,  as  he  said.  Do  you  recollect  what 
he  told  you,  being  yet  in  Galilee — that  it  was  neces- 
sary that  the  Son  of  Man  should  be  delivered  up  to 
the  hands  of  sinners,  and  that  he  should  be  crucified, 
and  that  he  should  rise  up  on  the  third  day?  Behold 
the  place  where  they  put  the  Lord.  Go  forthwith  and 
tell  his  disciples  and  Peter  that  he  has  risen." 

Peter  is  the  object  of  a  special  mention  on  account 
of  the  dignity  which  sets  him  apart,  and  in  order  that 
neither  himself  or  anybody  else  can  doubt  that  his 
triple  denial  has  been  pardoned. 

f 
( 


( 


) 

4.6  2  The  Life  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ. 

The  holy  women  remembered  the  words  of  the 
Lord  which  the  angel  had  recalled  to  them.  Seized 
with  fear  and  transported  with  joy,  they  withdrew  to 
communicate  to  the  apostles  this  great  news. 

They  marched  in  haste,  saying  nothing  to  any  person 
on  the  route,  when  suddenly  Jesus  showed  himself  to  / 

them.     He  salutes  them  with  the  same  expression  that  } 

the  Angel  Gabriel  addressed  to  the  Holy  Virgin  on 
the  day  of  the  Annunciation — Avete.  They  approached 
him,  prostrating  themselves  at  his  feet  ;  they  adored 
him.  Jesus  said  to  them  :  "  Fear  not.  Go,  tell  my 
brothers  to  betake  themselves  to  Galilee  ;  there  they 
will  see  me." 

Joanna,  Mary,  and  the  others  were  anxious  to  re- 
late to  the  apostles  what  they  had  seen  and  what  they 
had  heard.  This  was  the  confirmation  of  what  they 
had  learned  through  Mary  Magdalene.  But  they  did 
not  believe  Mary  Magdalene,  and  they  believed  not  the 
two  angels  ;  they  took  what  they  saw  for  untruth — as  a 

X  delirium  or  hallucination  of  the  brain. 

The  chief  priests  believed  far  more  readily.  After 
the  announcement  of  the  guard  whom  they  had  placed 

\  .beside  the  tomb,  they  held  a  council  with  the  ancients. 

As  prudent  men  they  understood  all  the  consequen- 
ces ;  that  the  safer  way  was  to  avoid  any  great  excite- 
ment and  official  enquiries.  They  did  not  disturb 
the  disciples,  much  less  the  soldiers.  Quite  the  con- 
trary ;  they  gave  the  soldiers  a  large  sum  of  money,  re- 
commending them  to  say  that  the  disciples  had  taken 
away  the  body  at  night  whilst  they  were  asleep,  and 
promising  them  to  act  so  that  the  governor  should  not 
interrogate  them  about  the  case.     The  soldiers  accept- 

i  ed  the  gold  and  repeated  the  falsehood.      We  can   im- 

agine that  the  fable  or  falsehood  appeared   gross  and 

\ 
) 


The  Life  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ.  463 

clumsy  even  to  those  of  the  Jews  at  Jerusalem  who 
were  not  converted  ;  but  it  was  difficult  to  find  a  better 
pretext,  and  it  was  necessary  at  any  price  that  no  en-  | 

quiry  should  be  made.     The  impudence  and  credulity  ] 

of  party  spirit  did  the  rest.  Harbored  in  all  the  syna- 
gogues, this  childish  explanation  of  the  miracle  of  the 
resurrection  is  even  to-day  credited  among  the  Jews. 

As  to  the  obstinate  incredulity  of  the  apostles,  it 
was  something  certainly  mysterious  and  surpassing 
the  limits  of  reason.  St.  Gregory  says  the  cause 
of  it  was  owing  not  so  much  to  their  infirmity  as 
to  our  wants.  From  all  their  doubts  on  the  resurrec- 
tion, which  required  so  many  proofs,  a  brilliant  light 
is  shed  that  strengthens  our  faith.  Jesus  resuscitated 
conquered  their  resistance  only  by  placing  himself 
under  their  eyes,  and,  so  to  speak,  in  their  hands. 
Peter  first,  after  the  holy  women,  received  this  favor  the 
very  day  of  the  resurrection.  It  proves  how  sincere 
the  repentance  of  the  apostle  had  been.  God  mea- 
sured the  pardon  according  to  the  repentance. 

Behold  this  miracle  of  Jonas,  so  severely  and  so  ri- 
gidly announced  to  the  Jews.  The  resurrection  is  the 
last  trait  of  those  figures  by  which  not  only  the  words, 
but  the  life  even,  of  the  patriarchs  and  the  prophets 
form  in  their  totality  an  image  and  an  anticipated  his- 
tory of  Christ.  Jonas,  the  wandering  dove,  sent  to 
convert  the  Ninivites,  and  living  in  death,  is  a  type  of 
the  passage  of  Jesus   through  the  tomb.      There  are 


those  distinctions  which  must  exist  between  man  and 
God.  Jonas  at  first  refused  his  mission,  lest  the  salva- 
tion of  the  converted  Ninive  might  be  destruction  of 


{  Israel.     But  Jesus  wished  the  salvation  of  Israel   and 

J  the    whole  world.       But  Jonas,    enlightened    of    God, 

j  asks  of  himself  to  be  cast  into  the  sea  to  save  the  ship 

)  < 

!  : 


464  The  Life  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ 

( 
( 


that  carried  him  ;  and  Jesus  delivered  himself  up  to 
the  death  of  the  cross  to  save  the  world.  The  ship  of 
Jonas  was  saved  by  his  sacrifice  ;  the  human  race  is 
saved  by  the  cross.  Jonas,  swallowed  up  alive  by 
the  sea-monster,  did  not  die,  but  after  three  days  he  is 
vomited  forth  alive.  By  a  far  more  extraordinary 
miracle  Jesus  issues  forth  alive  out  of  the  bosom  of 
the  earth,  into  which  he  descended  dead.  Rejected 
among  men,  Jonas  went  forth  to  preach,  not  to  the 
Jews,  but  to  the  Ninivites  ;  Jesus  sent  his  apostles  to 
preach  penance  and  pardon  to  the  whole  world. 


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CHAPTER  II. 


THE   ASCENSION. 


ON  the  day  of  the  resurrection,  in  the  evening,  the 
two  disciples  were  travelling  from  Jerusalem 
to  the  village  of  Emmaus,  distant  about  nine  miles. 
They  were  conversing  about  what  had  occurred.  A 
man  accosts  them  and  travels  with  them.  He  enquires 
of  them  what  they  were  speaking  about,  that  they  ap- 
peared so  sad.  One  of  the  disciples  answered  him: 
"  Are  you  such  a  stranger  in  Jerusalem  that^you 
do  not  know  what  has  happened  in  these  days?" 
"  What  ?  "  asked'  the  traveller.  They  replied  :  "  About 
Jesus  of  Nazareth,  a  prophet,  powerful  in  works  anc 
in  words  before  God  and  the  whole  people.  Are  you 
ignorant  how  the  chief  priests  and  the  ancients  of  our 
nation  delivered  him  up  and  crucified  him  ?  We  hop- 
ed he  was  the  one  who  would  deliver  and  free  Israel 
from  the  Roman  yoke  of  oppression.  But  now,  be- 
hold, three  days  have  elapsed." 

Having  thus  expressed  their  discouragement,  the 
disciples  related  with  an  expression  of  doubt  how  some 
of  the  women  who  followed  Jesus  said  he  was  living, 
and  declared  that  his  body  was  no  longer  to  be  found 
in  the  sepulchre.  Then  the  unknown  traveller  said  to 
them  :  "  O  foolish  men  !  your  hearts  are  slow  to  believe 
the    prophets!"      Was    it    not    necessary    that    Christ 

46s 


466  The  Life  of  our  Lord  yesus   Christ. 

should  endure  all  these  sufferings,  and  that  thus  he 
should  enter  into  his  glory?  Then,  commencing  with 
Moses,  he  ran  through  all  the  prophets  ;  he  explained 
to  them  what  was  said  of  the  Christ  in  the  entire 
Scriptures. 

They  came  near  to  the  spot  where  they  were  obliged 
to  stop,  and  the  traveller  appeared  to  be  anxious  to  with- 
draw from  their  company,  but  the  disciples  insisted  that 
he  should  remain,  saying  that  it  was  late,  that  the  day 
was  already  spent.  He  then  went  in  with  them,  and 
they  sat  together  at  table.  This  guest  took  the  bread 
and  blessed  it,  and,  having  broken  it,  he  presented  it  to 
them.  At  that  instant  their  eyes  were  opened,  and 
they  recognized  the  Lord  ;  but  instantly  he  disappeared. 
And  the  disciples  said  one  to  another  :  "  Were  not  our 
hearts  burning  within  us  whilst  he  was  speaking  to  us 
durfkg  the  journey  and  whilst  he  was  explaining  the 
Scriptures  to  us  ?  " 

Full  of  the  fire  of  chanty  wherewith  the  presence  of 
Jesus  had  filled  them,  they  immediately  returned  to 
Jerusalem.  There  they  met  the  apostles,  who  told 
them,  "The  Lord  is  truly  risen,  and  he  has  appeared  to 
Simon."  They  themselves  related  what  had  happened. 
Nevertheless,  many  would  not  believe  them.  And  as 
the  apostles  were  seated  at  table  discussing  this  sub- 
ject, probably  with  some  degree  of  warmth,  Jesus 
appeared  in  the  midst  of  them  and  said  to  them  : 
"  Peace  be  with  you." 

Peace  was  the  promise  of  Bethlehem,  and  on  the  mo- 
ment of  quitting  them  he  said  to  them:  "  I  leave  you 
my  peace."  The  peace  is  the  gift  of  Jesus.  But  they 
trembled  and  believed  they  saw  a  spirit,  because  Jesus 
was  in  their  presence  whilst  the  doors  were  closed. 
He  said  to  them  :  "  It  is  I  ;  fear  not.     See  my  hands 


L_ 


The  Life  of  our  Lord  ye  sus  Christ.  467 


that  he  should  arise  from  among  the  dead  ;  you  are 
witnesses  of  those  things.  It  is  now  necessary  that 
penance  and  the  remission  of  sins  be  preached  in  my 
name  to  all  nations,  beginning  at  Jerusalem." 

He  revealed  the  truth  of  his  real  body;  he  mani- 
fested forthwith  the  unity  of  his  mystical  body,  the 
Church,  born  at  Jerusalem,  destined  to  be  spread 
throughout  the  world,  composed  of  Jews  and  Gentiles 


and  my  feet.    Touch  me.    A  spirit  has  neither  flesh  nor 

bones,  as  you  perceive  I  have."     He  showed  them  his 

hands  and  his  feet  and  the  wound  in  his  side.     They  | 

were  transported,  beside  themselves  with  joy,  but  yet 

without  being  able  to  persuade  themselves  that  that 

person  was  truly  the  Lord  living  in  the  flesh.     Jesus 

asked  them  for  something  to  eat.     They  presented  to  ] 

him  a  broiled  fish  and  a  honeycomb.      He  ate  of  them 

in    their    presence,    and    gave    them    what    remained.  \ 

Forthwith  he  said  to  them  :  "  Recollect  what  you  have 

heard  from  my  mouth  when  I  was  yet  with  you.     It  is 

necessary  that  all  things  written  of  me  by  the  prophets 

should  be  accomplished."     And   opening  their  minds  1 

for  the  understanding  of  the  Scriptures,  he  continued  ; 

"  It  was  necessary,  then,  that  Christ  should  suffer,  and  ( 

( 
( 
( 


-one  and  the  same  Church. 

( 
( 
( 
\ 


Having  thus  spoken,  he  said  to  them  the  second 
time,  seeing  their  joy  :  "  Peace  be  with  you."  And  as 
he  was  going  to  confer  on  them  a  great  gift,  truly  divine, 
he  adds  :  "  As  my  Father  has  sent  me,  thus  I  send  you." 
After  these  words  he  breathed  on  them,  saying  :  "  Re- 
ceive ye  the  Holy  Ghost.  Whose  sins  you  shall  forgive, 
they  are  forgiven  them  ;  and  whose  sins  you  shall  re- 


tain, they  are  retained."  < 


This  sufflation  or  breathing  on  them  was  not  yet  the 
plenitude  of  the  Holy  Ghost;  it  was  rather  a  symbol 


The  Life  of  our  Lord  yesus  Christ. 

of  it,  signifying  that  the  Holy  Ghost  proceeds  from 
Jesus  according  to  his  divinity.     Later,  on  the  day  of  \ 

Pentecost,  the  apostles  received  the  fulness  of  the  Holy 
Ghost  that  had  been  promised  to  them.     But  the  pa-  j 

ternal  goodness  of  Jesus  hastened  to  communicate  to  j 

them  the  power  of  absolving.  j 

Thomas,  one  of  the  twelve,  was  not  with  his  brethren  j 

when  this  apparition  occurred.  They  related  to  him 
all  that  had  happened.  But  Thomas  replied  :  "  If  I  do 
not  see  in  his  hands  the  mark  of  the  nails  ;  if  I  do  not 
put  my  finger  into  the  place  of  the  nails  ;  if  I  do  not 
put  my  hand  into  his  side,  I  shall  not  believe." 

Eight  days  after  the  apostles  were  in  the  same  house, 
and  Thomas  was  also  present.  Jesus  came  again,  the 
doors  being  closed,  and  appeared  in  the  midst  of  them. 
He  said  to  them  :  "  Peace  be  with  you."     Then,  ad-  \ 

dressing  himself  to  Thomas,  he  said  to  him  :  "  Put  here 
your  finger,  and  see  my  hands  ;  bring  your  hand   near,  ) 

and  put  it  in  my  side  ;  and  be  no  longer  incredulous, 
but  believing."  Thomas  exclaimed  :  "  My  Lord  and  my 
God."  Jesus  said  to  him  :  "  Thomas,  because  you  have 
seen  you  have  believed.  Blessed  are  those  who  have 
not  seen  and  yet  believe." 

After  these  events  the  apostles  and  the  disciples 
returned  into  Galilee,  where  the  Lord  had  prepared  for 
them  a  place  for  meeting.  Simon  Peter,  the  two  sons 
of  Zebedee,  and  Nathanael  were  assembled  on  the  shore 
of  the  lake  of  Genesareth.  One  evening  Peter  said  to 
them  :  "  I  am  going  a-fishing."  They  entered  the  bark 
with  him,  but  that  night  they  caught  nothing. 

The  next  morning  Jesus  appeared  to  them  on  shore, 
and  the  disciples  knew  him  not.  He  said  to  them  : 
"  Children,  have  you  anything  to  eat  ?  "  They  answer- 
ed :   "No."     Jesus  replied:  "Cast  out  the  net  to  the 


The  Life  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ.  469 

right,  and  you  will  catch  some  fish."  They  did  so,  and 
they  could  not  draw  in  the  net,  so  loaded  was  it. 
Then  John  said  to  Peter:  "ft  is  the  Lord."  Peter, 
understanding  these  words,  threw  off  his  tunic,  girded 
himself,  and  threw  himself  into  the  deep  waters.  The 
other  disciples  came  in  the  fishing  bark,  drawing  the 
filled-up  net.  It  contained  one  hundred  and  fifty-three 
large  fishes,  and  it  did  not  break  carrying  them. 

This  fishing,  where  the  net  is  no  longer  cast  out  at 
random,  but  to  the  right,  is  a  figure  of  the  Church  arriv- 
ing at  the  eternal  haven  whereunto  she  conducts  her 
elect.  There  were  seven  fishermen  to  represent  the 
universality  of  the  Catholic  priesthood.  The  number 
j  of  one  hundred  and   fifty-three,  according  to  the  inter- 

pretation of  St.  Augustine,  expressed  the  unity  of  God, 
the  trinity,  and  humanity.  The  net  did  not  break 
because  then  there  will  no  longer  be  schism  to  be 
dreaded.  All  is  brought  to  land,  to  the  firm  shore,  to 
repose,  to  peace. 

Then  they  landed  on  the  beach.  The  disciples  saw 
the  fire  lit  up  and  the  fish  dressed  on  it  with  a  little 
bread.  Jesus  said  to  them  :  "  Come  and  eat."  None 
of  them  dared  to  ask  him,  Who  are  you?  They  knew 
well  that  he  was  the  Saviour,  the  Lord.  The  Evangel- 
ist says  that  they  kuczv,  not  that  they  saw. 

Now  they  know  and  believe  without  seeing.     After 
they  had  eaten  Jesus  said  to  Simon  Peter:    "  Simon, 
j  lovest   thou  me  more  than  these?"     Peter  answered  : 

"Yes,  Lord,  thou  knowest  that  I  love  thee."  Jesus  said 
to  him:  "Feed  my  lambs."  He  said  to  him  again: 
"  Simon,  son  of  John,  lovest  thou  me  ?  "  Peter  answers 
a  second  time  :  "  Yes,  Lord,  thou  knowest  that  I  love 
thee."  Jesus  says  to  him:  "Feed  ni/  lambs."  He 
j  said  to  him  for  the  third  time  :  "  Simon,  son  of  John, 


47° 


The  Life  of  our  Lord  "jesus   Christ. 


dost  thou  love  me?"  Peter,  afflicted  at  this  third  in- 
terrogation, answered  :  "  Lord,  thou  knowest  all  things  ; 
thou  knowest  that  I  love  thee."  Jesus  said  to  him  : 
"  Feed  my  sheep." 

These  three  avowals  of  Peter,  three  times  provoked 
by  Jesus,  expiated  his  three  denials.  He  must  not, 
says  St.  Augustine,  show  less  of  love  than  he  had 
shown  of  fear.  It  must  not  be  that  he  should  use 
more  words  to  conjure  death  than  to  invoke  life. 

After  the  first  two  answers  Peter  is  confirmed  in  his 
dignity  of  apostle.  After  the  third  he  is  invested  with 
the  supreme  dignity  of  pastor  of  pastors.  This  is  the 
last  touch  to  the  great  work  which  Jesus  never  ceased 
to  construct — his  Church.  The  words  that  he  added 
assured  Peter  of  his  future  firmness,  and  pointed  out  to 
him  at  the  same  time  the  glory  of  his  death  :  "  Verily, 
verily  I  say  to  thee,  when  thou  wast  younger  thou 
didst  gird  thyself  and  didst  walk  whither  thou  wouldst. 
But  when  thou  art  old,  thou  wilt  stretch  forth  thy  hands, 
and  another  will  gird  thee  and  lead  thee  whither  thou 
wouldst  not."  And  Jesus  said  to  him  again — to  him 
alone — "  Follow  me,"  so  as  to  mark  by  one  trait  more 
his  supreme  dignity,  and  to  cast  a  sort  of  mourning 
over  the  particulars  of  his  martyrdom. 

Forthwith  the  eleven  returned  into  Galilee.  On  the 
mountain,  where  Jesus  told  them  they  would  see  Him, 
we  are  of  the  opinion  that  that  was  the  place  where 
more  than  five  hundred  disciples  saw  him  at  one  and 
the  same  time,  as  St.  Paul  testifies,  and  adored  him. 
Some,  nevertheless,  remained  in  doubt,  which  can- 
not be  understood  of  the  apostles.  Approaching  the 
eleven,  Jesus  said  to  them  :  "  All  power  is  given  to  me 
in  heaven  and  in  earth.  Going  therefore  teach  ye  all 
nations  :  baptizing  them  in  the  name  of  the  Father,  and 


The  Life  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ.  471 

of  the  Son,  and  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  teaching  them  to 
observe  all  things  whatsoever  I  have  commanded  you  : 
and  behold  I  am  with  you  all  days,  even  to  the  consum- 
mation of  the  world."  He  said  again  to  them  :  "  Go, 
therefore,  into  the  entire  world,  and  preach  the  Gospel 
to  every  creature.  He  who  will  believe  and  be  bap- 
tized shall  be  saved  ;  but  he  who  will  not  believe  shall 
be  condemned.  Miracles  will  accompany  those  who 
believe.  In  my  name  they  shall  cast  out  devils,  and 
they  shall  speak  new  tongues,  and  they  will  seize  ser- 
pents ;  and  if  they  drink  any  poisonous  drink,  it  will  not 
injure  them  ;  they  will  impose  hands  on  the  sick,  and 
they  shall  be  cured." 

Nine  apparitions  of  the  Lord  are  mentioned  in  the 
Gospel.  What  follows  is  related  as  the  tenth  and  last, 
which  took  place  at  Jerusalem,  where  the  apostles  were 
assembled.  Eating  with  them,  Jesus  commanded 
them  not  to  leave  Jerusalem,  but  await  there  the  ful- 
filment of  the  promise  of  the  Father^  which  they  had 
veceived  from  his  mouth  ;  and  he  announced  to  them 
anew  the  baptism  of  the  Holy  Ghost. 

Then  again,  preoccupied  with  the  temporal  reign  of 
the  Messias,  they  put  to  him  this  question  :  "  Lord,  is 
this  the  time  wherein  you  will  re-establish  the  king- 
dom of  Israel  ?  "  The  Holy  Ghost  must  very  soon  dis- 
abuse them  of  this  idea.  Jesus  condescends  to 
reply  to  them  :  "  It  is  not  for  you  to  know  the  times 
and  the  moments  that  the  Father  has  marked  out  in 
his  almighty  power.  But  you  will  receive  the  truth 
from  the  Holy  Ghost,  who  will  come  upon  you  from 
on  high  ;  and  you  shall  be  my  witnesses  in  Jerusalem 
and  in  all  Judea  and  Samaria,  and  even  to  the  utmost 
parts  of  the  earth."  This  was  taking  possession  of  the 
entire  world. 


TJie  Life  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ. 

After  having  spoken  thus  to  them,  the  Lord  Jesus 
led  them  outside  of  the  city  on  the  way  that  leads  to 
Bethania.  Then  with  his  hands,  that  were  pierced 
with  nails,  he  gave  them  his  benediction  ;  and  as  soon 
as  he  blessed  them  they  beheld  him  rising  up  and  as- 
cending into  heaven.  Forthwith  a  cloud  hid  him  from 
their  view.  And  as  they  continued  to  look  up,  two 
men  clothed  in  white  garments  were  instantly  at  their 
side,  who  said  to  them  :  "  Why  do  you  remain  thus 
looking  on  ?  This  Jesus  whom  you  have  seen  ascend 
up  to  heaven  from  your  midst  will  one  day  return  as 
you  have  seen  him  ascend." 


|É|| 

M 

Weiïi 

WrŒ^ÏÛÊ^mSk 

B^iEv^HS 

WèM 

ËI 

If? 

wm 

|1.9v@Rh8 

itrùvi 

CHAPTER  III. 


THE    ArOSTLES — rETER. 


ASSIDUOUS  in  prayer,  the  disciples  awaited  witli 
faith  the  fulfilment  of  the  promises  of  the  Lord 
Jesus. 

The  tenth  day  after  the  Ascension  (the  fiftieth  after 
the  Pasch)  the  Jews  celebrated  the  Pentecost — a  feast 
commemorative  of  the  advent  of  the  law,  promulgated 
the  fiftieth  day  after  the  departure  from  Egypt  ;  and 
during  this  feast  they  offered  to  Jehovah  the  first- 
fruits  of  the  harvest.  The  apostles  and  disciples  be- 
ing assembled,  quite  suddenly  there  was  a  great  noise 
as  of  a  rushing  wind  that  came  from  heaven.  At  the 
same  moment  there  appeared  flames  that  divided 
themselves  into  tongues  of  fire  and  rested  on  the 
head  of  each,  even  of  the  women,  and  they  were  all 
filled  with  the  Holy  Ghost.  John  the  Baptist  had  an- 
nounced this  baptism  of  fire.  Whilst  the  Jews  become 
unworthy  to  celebrate  the  ancient  law,  the  new  law  is 
promulgated.  To  those  who  brought  him  the  first- 
fruits  of  their  field  God  declares  that  he  wishes  hence- 
forth other  harvests — the  harvests  of  souls. 

The  apostles  began  to  speak  in  divers  tongues,  ac- 
cording as  the  Holy  Ghost  inspired  them.  Attracted 
by  this  wonder,  the  Jews  of  all  nations  came  in  great 
numbers  around  them.     Every  one  was  astonished  at 

473 


474 


The  Life  of  oar  Lord  yes t is  Christ, 


hearing  them,  and  everybody  understood  them,  speak- 
ing in  their  own  peculiar  language.  But  the  Jews  of 
Judea  said  "  they  were  drunk."  Then  Peter,  stand- 
ing up  in  the  midst  of  the  eleven,  made  them  see  that 
he  had  become  another  man.  He  said  to  them  :  "You 
remember  Jesus  of  Nazareth  and  the  miracles  that 
God  had  wrought  through  him  in  your  midst.  He  has 
been  delivered  up  to  you,  and  you  have  crucified  him, 
and  you  have  put  him  to  death.  But  God  has  resusci- 
tated him,  and  we  are  witnesses  of  his  resurrection. 
For  after  he  had  been  taken  up  into  heaven,  and  had 
received  the  promise  the  Father  had  made  to  him  to 
send  down  the  Holy  Ghost,  he  has  poured  forth  this 
Holy  Ghost,  whom  you  now  hear.  O  house  of  Israel  ! 
know,  then,  and  understand  well,  that  God  has  made 
Lord  and  Christ  this  Jesus  whom  you  have  crucified." 

Thus  spoke  Peter  in  the  midst  of  Jerusalem,  in  the 
face  of  priests,  scribes,  and  Pharisees,  and  of  the  people, 
less  than  two  months  after  the  Passion  and  death  of 
the  Lord  Jesus  Christ.  It  may  be  said  that  this  was 
the  first  form  or  the  first  paraphrase  of  the  Credo, 
which  was  thenceforth  to  resound  without  ceasing 
throughout  the  entire  world  by  the  mouth  of  the 
apostles,  and  which  was  bound  to  reach  us,  who  re- 
echo it,  repeat  it,  and  will  transmit  it  to  our  posterity 
intact. 

Among  those  who  had  heard  Peter,  many  said  to 
him  and  to  the  other  apostles  :  "  Brethren,  what  must 
we  do  ?  "  Peter  said  to  them  :  "  Do  penance.  Let 
each  of  you  be  baptized  in  the  name  of  Jesus  Christ, 
and  you  will  receive  the  gift  of  the  Holy  Ghost.  For 
the  promise  has  been  made  to  you  and  to  your  children, 
and  to  those  who  are  afar  off,  and  to  all  those  whom 
the  Lord  shall  call." 


The  Life  of  out  Lord  ye  sus  Christ.  475 

Having  finished  instructing  them,  he  exhorted  them 
to  save  themselves  from  that  corrupt  race.  That  day 
about  three  thousand  received  baptism.  It  was  the 
first  haul  of  the  net  of  the  fisher  of  men.  These  new 
disciples  of  Christ,  whose  number  daily  augmented, 
were  united  by  the  strongest  bond  of  charity. 

The  apostles  astonished  Jerusalem  by  the  number 
of  their  miracles.  One  day,  as  Peter  and  John  went 
to  pray  at  the  ninth  hour,  they  beheld  at  the  porch 
of  the  Temple  an  infirm  man,  born  a  cripple,  who  im- 
plored alms  of  them.  Peter  said  to  him  :  "  Gold  or 
silver  I  have  none,  but  I  will  give  you  what  I  have. 
In  the  name  of  Jesus  of  Nazareth,  rise  up  and  walk." 
Then  he  took  him  by  the  hand;  and  the  cripple,  walk- 
ing forth  with  joy,  accompanied  them  into  the  Tem- 
ple. This  man  was  more  than  forty  years  old.  Every-  \ 
body  knew  him.  A  great  throng  eagerly  pressed 
around  the  apostles.  Peter  said  to  them  :  "  Why  do 
you  wonder  at  this,  or  why  do  you  look  on  us  as  if  it 
was  of  ourselves  we  caused  this  man  to  walk  ?  The  God 
of  our  fathers  glorifies  his  Son  Jesus,  whom   you   have              j 


denied  before  Pilate.     When  Pilate  judged  him  inho 

cent,  you  denied  the   Holy  and    the  Just  One.     You 
j  desired  that  a  murderer    should    be    delivered    up    to 

you.      You    put    to    death    the    Author    of  life.      But 
)  God    resuscitated    him,    and    we    all   are   witnesses   of 

it.        It    is    he    who,    through    faith    in    the    name    of 
)  Jesus,  cured    this  man,  born  a  cripple,  whom  you  see 

)  and  know." 

The    apostle,  attributing    to    ignorance    their  crime 

against  Jesus,  pressed  them  to  embrace  the  faith,  since 

it  was  to  them  that  God  had  first  sent  his  Son. 

Whilst  he  was  speaking  the  priests  and   the   officers 

of  the  Temple,  accompanied  by  a  strong  force  of  Sad- 


476  The  Life  of  our  Lord  ye  sus  Christ. 

ducees,  raging  furiously  on  hearing  him  announce  the 
resurrection,  rushed  upon  him  and  arrested  him,  as 
well  as  John.  Up  to  this  moment  the  murderers  of 
Jesus  had  avoided  annoying  or  persecuting  the  disci- 
ples. They  feared  to  persecute  them — not  that  they 
dreaded  their  strength,  but  for  fear  of  arousing  the  re- 
membrance of  the  Master.  They  calculated  that 
they  could  no  longer  blot  from  the  memory  of  the 
people  the  miracles  of  Jesus  by  silence  and  forgetful- 
ness.  What  transpired  on  the  day  of  Pentecost  ;  that 
splendid  new  miracle  ;  that  second  preaching  in  the 
Temple;  the  visible  dispositions  of  the  multitude — all 
forced  them  to  change  their  opinion. 

Peter  and  John,  cast  into  prison,  appeared  the  next 
day  before  the  tribunal  that  had  judged  the  Saviour. 
Annas  and  Caiphas  presided.  They  demanded  of  the 
apostles  by  what  authority  and  in  whose  name  they 
had  cured  the  born  cripple.  Peter  answered  :  "  In 
the  name  of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  whom  you  nailed 
to  the  cross,  and  whom  God  raised  up.  Nor  is  there 
salvation  in  any  other  ;  for  there  is  no  other  name 
under  heaven  whereby  men  can  be  saved." 

At  this  response  the  judges  of  Christ  were  discon- 
certed. They  saw  no  means  of  denying  the  miracle, 
and  they  had  no  desire  to  yield.  Silence  appeared  to 
them  as  yet  the  better  part.  Thinking  that  poor,  illi- 
terate, and  ignorant  men,  such  as  the  apostles  were, 
would  not  resist  their  menace,  they  forbid  them,  under 
the  severest  penalties,  either  to  teach  or  to  speak 
thenceforward,  in  any  manner,  in  the  name  of  Jesus. 
Peter  and  John  replied:  "Judge  you  yourselves  if  it 
be  just  to  obey  you  rather  than  God.  For  our  part, 
we  know  not  how  to  keep  silence  about  the  things 
we  have  seen  and  which  we  have  heard."     These  are 


The  Life  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ.  477 

words  that  the  human  conscience  can  add  to  the  num- 
ber of  those  that  kept  it  from  perishing. 

The  judges  multiplied  their  threats,  but  without 
being  able  to  punish  ;  they  suffered  the  resolute  and  de- 
termined men  to  depart.  That  was  the  first  trial  the 
Church  had  to  undergo.  She  celebrated  its  happy'is- 
sue  by  a  canticle,  wherein  poetry  and  the  enthusiasm  of 
the  new  world  are  pre-eminently  reflected.  If  we  wish 
to  recall  what  she  then  chanted  among  men,  we  will 
see  what  a  victorious  race  was  about  to  be  borne  from 
the  cross  of  Calvary. 

All  with  one  accord  lifted  up  their  voice  to  God,  and 
said  :  "  Lord,  thou  art  he  who  didst  make  heaven  and 
earth,  the  sea,  and  all  things  that  are  in  them.  It  is 
thou  who  through  the  Holy  Ghost,  by  the  mouth  of 
our  father  David,  thy  servant,  hast  said  :  '  Why  have 
the  Gentiles  raged  and  the  people  devised  vain  things? 
The  kings  of  the  earth  stood  up,  and  the  princes  assem- 
bled together  against  the  Lord  and  against  his  Christ.' 
For  it  is  true  that  against  your  holy  Son  Jesus  and 
]  your  Christ  were   leagued  together  in  this  city  Herod 

and   Pontius  Pilate,   the  Gentiles  and   the   people    of 
Israel,  to  accomplish  what  your  power  and  vour  counsel 

( 


had  decreed  should  be  done.  And  now,  O  Lord  !  be- 
hold their  threatenings  and  give  to  your  servants 
strength  and  courage  to  announce  your  word,  and 
stretch  forth  your  hand  to  grant  cures  and  wonders  and 
miracles,  through  the  name  of  your  holy  Son,  Jesus 
Christ." 

After  they  had  thus  spoken  the  house  wherein  they 
were  assembled  shook.  God  gave  them  this  si<rn  that 
he  was  always  there,  and  that  he  could  destroy  the 
Jews  and  the  world  itself. 

Full   of  the   Holy  Ghost,  the  apostles  continued  to 


478  The  Life  of  our  Lord  yesus  Christ. 


spread  the  Word,  as  if  they  had  nothing  to  dread. 
About  five  thousand  persons  were  baptized  after  this 
second  discourse. 

Peter  was  not  only  the  spiritual  chief,  but  even  the 
judge,  and  in  a  certain  manner  the  king,  of  this  new 
nation.     Miracles  without  number  confirmed   his   au- 


thority.    They  placed   the   sick  in  the   streets   on   his 

I 

( 


way,  and  his  shadow,  resting  on  them,  effected  a  cure. 

The  chief  priests  and  their  party— that  is,  the  party 
of  the  incredulous — saw  that  it  was  necessary  to  take 
some  other  measures  to  silence  what  they  called  the 
"  sect  of  Jesus."  They  had  the  apostles  again  arrested. 
But  an  angel  appeared  to  the  prisoners  and  threw 
open  their  prison-doors,  and  said  to  them  :  "  Go  forth 
and  preach  boldly  and  fearlessly." 

The  next  day,  as  soon  as  the  Temple  was  opened, 
they  began  to  preach  in  Solomon's  porch.  It  was  there 
they  were  arrested,  after  the  curing  of  the  man  born  a 
cripple.  Meanwhile,  the  judges  were  assembled.  They 
were  informed  that  all  was  in  order  in  the  prison,  the 
gates  closed,  the  guards  at  the  doors,  but  that  the 
prisoners  were  not  there.  Their  astonishment  in- 
creased when  they  learned  that  those  whom  they 
sought  were  preaching  freely  under  the  galleries  of  the 
Temple.  They  caused  them  to  be  brought  to  them, 
but  without  violence,  for  fear  of  the  people.  The 
high- priest  demanded  of  them,  after  the  prohibitions 
they  had  received,  why  they  dared  to  proclaim  that 
name.  "You  have,"  he  adds,  "  filled  Jerusalem  with 
your  doctrine,  and  you  wish  to  render  us  guilty  of  the 
death  of  that  Man.'" 

Peter  and  the  apostles  answered:  "We  must  obey 
God.  The  God  of  our  fathers  raised  up  Jesus,  whom 
vou  caused   to   be   put    to    death    by   nailing    him    to 


The  Life  of  our  Lord  jfcsus  Christ.  479 

the  cross.  He  is  the  Prince  and  the  Saviour  whom 
God  raised  up  to  give  to  Israel  penance  and  remission 
of  sins;  and  we  are  witnesses  of  this,  and  the  Holy 
Ghost,  whom  God  has  given  to  those  who  obey  him, 
is  witness  of  this  with  us." 

The  judges  counselled   together  to  know  how  they 
could  put  them  to  death.     A  very  respectable  Phari- 
saical doctor,  named  Gamaliel,  who   taught  the  Holy 
Scriptures,    and  who    afterwards  was    converted,    per- 
j  suaded  them  to  wait  awhile;  "for,"  said  he,  "if  the 

work  of  these  men  proceed  but  of  themselves,  it  will 
vanish  of  itself  ;  but  if  it  be  the  work  of  God,  you  cannot 
destroy  it,  and  it  is  to  be  feared  that  you  are  warring 
against  God."  Such  were  the  words  already  permitted 
to  be  pronounced  in  the  council  that  condemned  Jesus, 
and  to  rally  the  majority  under  the  presidency  of  Cai- 


phas  and  Annas.     The  miracles  performed  must  have 


spoken  after  a  powerful  manner  !  Nevertheless,  the 
council  caused  the  apostles  to  be  scourged,  and  re- 
newed their  prohibition  against  speaking  by  any  means 
to  anybody  of  the  name  of  Jesus.  They  went  forth 
joyful  for  having  been  judged  worthy  to  suffer  con- 
tumely for  the  name  of  Jesus,  their  Master,  and  they 
continued  to  preach  Christ,  and  him  crucified,  boldly 
and  fearlessly  in  the  Temple  and  everywhere.  The 
conversions  increased  ;  a  more  violent  persecution  is 
organized. 

After  the  Ascension  the  Apostolic  College  was  com- 
pleted by  adding  to  their  number  the  disciple  Matthias, 
designated  by  lot  to  replace  the  Iscariot.  Later  on, 
in  order  to  discharge  themselves  of  the  material  care 
of  the  community,  they  instituted  the  order  of  deacons, 
and  established  seven  deacons,  chosen  among  the  dis- 
ciples and  elected  by  them.      The  first  deacon,  named 


( 


480  The  Life  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ. 

Stephen,  had  studied  under  Gamaliel.  He  was  a  mar 
full  of  faith,  of  knowledge,  and  courage,  who  had  per  ( 

formed  great  miracles.     The  Greek  Jews,  having  had  ( 

a  public  controversy  with  him,  whose  result  did  not 
turn    out    to   their    advantage,    accused   .him    of   bias-  < 

phemy  and  dragged  him  before  the  council,  where 
they  produced  false  witnesses.  When  Stephen  stood  in 
the  presence  of  the  judges,  his  enemies  saw  his  counte- 
nance radiating  like  that  of  an  angel.  The  high-priest 
interrogated  him,  and  he  defended  himself.  His  dis- 
course was  masterly.  He  demonstrated  how  the  Jews 
had  always  persecuted  the  prophets  ;  how,  faithful  to  the 
evil  mind  of  their  fathers,  they  betrayed  and  put  to 
death  him  whom  the  prophets  had  announced — the 
Messias  prefigured  by  Moses.  His  discourse  gave  them 
to  understand  that  the  knowledge  of  the  holy  Scrip- 
tures had  departed  from  their  schools  and  passed  over 
to  the  disciples  of  Jesus.  They  became  furious  ;  but 
whilst  they  were  gnashing  their  teeth  with  rage  against 
Stephen,  this  glorious  man,  raising  up  his  eyes  to  hea- 
ven, exclaimed  :  "  I  see  the  heavens  opened,  and  the 
Son  of  Man  standing  at  the  right  hand  of  God." 

Instantly  the  members  of  the  council  began  to 
clamor  ;  they  rushed  on  him  and  dragged  him  out  of 
the  city  to  be  stoned.  According  to  the  law,  the  wit- 
nesses were  compelled  to  cast  the  first  stone  at  him,  so 
as  to  testify  that  they  executed  the  judgment.  They 
put  their  clothing  at  the  feet  of  a  young  doctor  of  the 
law,  also  a  pupil  of  Gamaliel,  who  was  there  as  dele- 
gated by  the  judges.  Stephen,  whilst  they  were 
stoning  him  to  death,  said,  "  Lord  Jesus,  receive 
my  soul";  and  kneeling  down,  he  said  again,  "Lord, 
impute  not  to  them  this  sin."  Having  pronounced 
these  words,  he  dies.     The  Scripture  says,  "  He  slept." 


The  Life  of  our  Lord  ye  sus  Christ.  481 

He  was  the  first  martyr — the  first  who  received   in  this 

)  J  \ 

world  the  fulfilment  of  the  first  promise  made  by  Jesus  ) 

to  his  first  disciples  :  "  You  will  see  the  heavens  opened." 
The  Jews  consoled  themselves  for  their  new  crime 
by  saying  to  themselves  that  at  least  "  the  sect  "  could 
not  easily  replace  a  man  so  full  of  knowledge,  and  of 
eloquence,  and  burning  zeal  for  God's  glory  as  he 
whom  they  stoned   to  death.      But   this   same  young 


doctor  at   whose   feet   the  murderers  of  Stephen   had 
deposited  their  garments,   and  who   consented  to  his 

)  death,  was  named   Saul;   one   day  he   shall  be   named 

Paul,  and  he  will  be  the  one  whom  every  tongue  shall 

)  call  by  excellence   The  Apostle. 

The  martyrdom  of  St.  Stephen  was  the  signal  of  a 
'great  persecution,  in  which  Saul  did  not  remain  inactive. 
He  made  unheard-of  ravages  in  the  Church,  entering 
into  the  houses  and  dragging  off  by  force  to  prison 
both  men  and  women.  All  the  disciples  were  scat- 
tered. Nevertheless,  the  apostles,  although  more 
menaced,  obeying  the  order  of  Jesus   Christ,  did   not 

)  quit     Jerusalem.       Other    faithful    souls    were    coura- 


geous enough  to  bury  with  honor  the  body  of  Stephen. 
For  the  rest,  the  persecution  and  the  dispersion  had 
the  effect  that  the  world  is  accustomed  to  see  them 
produce  ;  and  the  effect  was  that  the  Gospel  was  more 
promptly  spread.  Samaria  was  the  first  to  profit  by 
them.  Philip  the  deacon,  by  the  example  of  the 
Master,  breaks  through  the  barrier  of  the  Jewish 
nationality,  and  reaps  where  Jesus  had  sown.  St.  Peter 
and  St.  John,  tenderly  united  by  the  bonds  of  charity 
went  from  Jerusalem  in  the  name  of  the  Apostolic 
College  to  administer  confirmation  to  those  whom 
Philip  had  baptized,  and  communicated  to  them  the 
gifts  of  the  Holy  Ghost. 


48  2  The  Life  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ. 

But  there  also  the  first  heretic  manifested  himself, 
almost  at  the  same  instant  the  first  martyr  was  about 
to  be  crowned  with  eternal  glory.  i 

Seeing  the  miracles  of    Philip,  a   Samaritan   named  ( 

Simon,  trafficking  in  magic,  had  demanded  and  received  \ 

baptism.      As    he    had    witnessed    new    graces    which  ( 

followed  the  imposition  of  hands,  he  offered  money  to 
the  apostles,  so  that  they  might  give  him  also  the  power  ( 

to  communicate  the  Holy  Ghost.     Peter  said  to  him  :  ( 

"  Let  your  money  perish  with  you,  who  believe  that  the 
gift  of  God  can  be  bought  with  money.  You  have 
nothing  to  expect  in  this  work  ;  you  have  not  a  right 
heart.  Therefore  do  penance  for  your  impiety  and 
pray  to  God  ;  perhaps  he  will  forgive  you."  The  ma- 
gician, terrified,  implored  the  apostles  to  intercede  for 
him  ;  but  he  remained  engaged  in  his  crime,  seeking 
to  obtain  the  grace  of  God,  or,  feigning  that  he  had 
obtained  it,  to  sell  it  again.  This  is  the  principal  cha- 
racter of  heresy. 

The  baptized  of  Samaria,  half  Jewrish,  were  the  first- 
fruits  of  a  conquest,  far  more  extensive,  which  the 
Gospel  of  Jesus  Christ  should  very  soon  undertake. 
The  prophets  had  announced  that  the  kingdom  should 
be  opened  even  to  the  pagans.  Jesus  said:  "Teach 
all  nations  and  baptize  them."  Humanly  speaking,  it 
seemed  impossible  to  call  the  pagans  without  imposing 
on  them  at  the  same  time  the  whole  of  Judaism,  or 
without  excluding  by  the  same  stroke  all  the  Jews. 
Hitherto  the  Gospel  had  been  preached  but  to  the 
children  of  Abraham,  and  they  were  the  more  devout 
who  embraced  it  ;  they  were  more  assiduous  in  the 
Temple  and  nearer  to  the  law  ;  they  had  no  idea  that 
the  circumcision  could  be  abolished.  In  their  eyes  all 
the  uncircumcised   were   impure  ;  they  would  neither 


The  Life  of  our  Lord  yesus  Christ.  483 

drink  nor  eat  nor  hold  any  communication  with  them. 
How  remove  this  barrier?  Mow  impose  on  the 
Gentiles  both  circumcision  and  the  privation  of  meats 
declared  impure  ?  How  admit  into  the  Church,  com- 
posed only  of  faithful  Jews,  men  in  contact  with  whom 
they  considered  themselves  stained  ?  A  divine  reve- 
lation was  necessary  to  accomplish  this,  and  Peter 
received  it. 

There  was  at  Cesarea  a  centurion  commanding  an 
Italian  cohort,  named  Cornelius,  a  religious  man— one 
of  those  men  of  the  future  whose  sole  desire  was  to 
implore  and  obtain  the  favor  of  God.  Uncircumcised, 
he  made  himself,  like  many  others,  a  Jew  as  much  as 
.it  was  possible  for  him  to  be  one  ;  because  the  worship 
of  Israel  afforded  at  least  something  to  the  aspiration 
of  the  soul.  He  prayed  fervently  and  devoutly,  gave 
alms,  and  feared  God  ;  and  all  his  family  were  like  him- 
self. One  day  an  angel  appeared  to  him.  It  was 
about  the  ninth  hour— the  hour  of  the  apparition  to 
Zachary  ;  the  hour  the  infirm  man,  born  a  cripple,  was 
cured  at  the  porch  of  the  Temple  ;  the  hour  of  Jesus' 
last  sigh. 

The  angel,  then,  appearing  to  this  man,  said  to  him  : 
"  Cornelius,  your  prayers  and  your  alms  have  ascended 
up  before  God,  and  he  is  mindful  of  them.  Send 
forthwith  into  the  city  of  Joppe,  and  make  Simon, 
surnamed  Peter,  come  and  converse  with  you.  He 
lodges  at  the  house  of  Simon  the  tanner;  and  do  you 
what  he  will  tell  you."  Immediately  Cornelius  de- 
spatched to  Joppe  two  of  his  servants  and  one  of  his 
soldiers  who  feared  God. 

The  next  day,  when  the  messengers  of  Cornelius 
had  already  approached  the  city  of  Joppe,  Peter 
ascended    to    the    upper   part    of  the   house    to   pray. 


454  The  Life  of  our  Lord   Jesus  Christ. 

Aftervvu^ds  he  asked  for  something  to  eat,  continuing  in 
prayer  whilst  they  were  preparing  for  him  a  repast. 
He  was  entranced  in  ecstasy.  The  heavens  were 
opened  ;  a.  large  sheet,  tied  at  the  four  corners,  in  the 
shape  of  a  vessel,  was  lowered  toward  the  earth,  and 
this  sheet  contained  all  sorts  of  beasts,  among  which 
there  were  the  unclean  and  forbidden  by  the  law.  At 
the  same  time  the  apostle  heard  a  voice,  which  said  to 
him:  'Peter,  arise,  kill  and  eat."  "Far  be  it  from 
me,  Lord  ;  I  have  never  eaten  anything  unclean." 
The  voice  replied  :  "  Do  not  call  unclean  what  God 
has  purified."  The  vision  is  renewed  three  times; 
then  the  sheet  in  the  shape  of  a  vessel  was  drawn  up 
to  heaven. 

The  unclean  and  savage  beasts  represent  the  pagans, 
sullied  with  impurities  and  subjected  to  all  brutal 
passions.  They  appeared  to  descend  from  heaven, 
because  the  divine  election  gave  them  to  Peter  to 
receive  them  into  the  Church,  "Kill  and  eat;  make 
them  die  to  the  old  man,  and  incorporate  them  into 
your  unity."  The  sign  was  given  three  times,  so  as  to 
convince  the  Jews  more  strongly  of  the  mercy  of  God 
towards  the  Gentiles. 

Peter  did  not  immediately  comprehend.  Whilst  he 
ivas  reflecting  on  the  meaning  of  his  vision  the  mes- 
sengers of  Cornelius  enquired  for  him  at  the  gate,  and 
•.it  the  same  moment  the  Spirit  said  to  him  :  "  Come 
down  and  go  without  fear  with  those  men  ;  for  I  have 
«eut  them."  Having  then  received  the  messengers, 
Peter  the  next  day  followed  them,  the  servant  of  the 
.servants  of  God.  Some  of  the  brethren  at  Joppe 
accompanied  them.  Peter  did  not  go  alone  and  did 
not  act  without  witnesses. 

Cornelius  awaited   him     with    his  parents    and  best 


n 


The  Life  of  our  Lord  yesus  Christ. 


48S 


friends.  As  soon  as  he  saw  him  he  cast  himself  at  his 
feet.  Peter  made  him  rise  and  enter  the  h^use. 
"You  know,"  said  he  to  Cornelius,  "how  much  the 
Jews  hold  in  abomination  the  intimacy  of  a  stranger; 
but  God  has  shown  me  that  I  must  not  look  on  any 
man  as  unclean,  and  without  hesitating  I  came.  L*t 
me  know  what  you  wish  of  me." 

Cornelius  related  to  him  what  the  angel  had  said  to 
him,  and  he   added  :      "  We  are  in    your  presence  U 
hear  what   the  Lord   has  commanded    you   to   say  t( 
us." 

Peter,  admiring  the  grace  God  had  bestowed  on 
men  in  announcing  to  them  peace  through  Jesus 
Christ,  the  Lord  and  Saviour  of  all,  commenced  forth- 
with to  instruct  the  Gentiles,  so  miraculously  called  : 
and  during  his  discourse  the  Holy  Ghost  visibly  de- 
scended on  all  those  who  heard  him.  To  the  great 
surprise  and  astonishment  of  all  the  circumcised  faith- 
ful, they  began  to  speak  divers  tongues  and  to  glorify 
God.  Then  Peter  said  to  his  companions:  "Who 
could  refuse  baptism  to  those  who  have  received  the 
Holy  Ghost?"  And  he  commanded  that  they  should 
be  baptized  in  the  name  of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ. 

On  his  return  to  Jerusalem  the  apostle  was,  never- 
theless, subjected  to  some  severe  investigations  on  the 
part  of  the  faithful  for  having  entered  the  houses  of 
the  uncircumcised  and  eaten  with  them.  He  defend- 
ed himself  by  relating  to  them  what  had  happened. 
"  When  I  saw,"  he  added,  "that  the  Holy  Ghost  de- 
scended on  those  Gentiles,  I  remembered  that  saying 
of  the  Lord  :  '  John  baptized  in  water,  but  you  will  be 
baptized  in  the  Holy  Ghost.'  Since,  then,  God  has 
given  them  the  same  grace  as  ourselves,  who  am  I  that 
I  should  oppose  God?  "     These  words  and  the  already 


The  Life  of  our  Lord  jfesus  Christ. 


acknowledged  authority  of  Peter,  who  had  received 
the  keys  to  shut  and  to  open,  appeased  the  Judaical 
scruples.  Those  who  had  murmured  conceived  a  holy 
joy.  They  said  :  "  God  be  praised  and  glorified,  who 
also  has  given  the  grace  of  repentance  to  strangers, 
that  they  may  obtain  life  everlasting." 


CHAPTER   IV. 


THE    APOSTLES— PAUL. 


THE  wall  of  separation  commenced  to  give  way, 
to  crumble.  Peter,  chosen  to  strike  the  first 
stroke,  had  largely  opened  up  the  breach.  The  bat- 
tering-ram that  was  bound  to  achieve  the  work  was 
already  in  the  hands  of  Jesus  Christ. 

After  the  death  of  Stephen  Saul  had  continued 
furiously  to  persecute  the  faithful — not,  it  would  seem, 
without  some  interior  gnawing  of  conscience  ;  but  he 
endeavored  to  smother  the  qualms  of  conscience  by 
redoubling  his  efforts  for  the  defence  of  assaulted 
Judaism.  By  origin  he  was  a  Pharisee,  brought  up  at 
Jerusalem  in  the  school  of  Gamaliel.  Educated,  elo- 
quent, and  perhaps  ambitious,  he  had  undertaken, 
as  the  object  of  his  life,  to  demonstrate  his  zeal  more 
than  the  wonted  zeal  of  the  Pharisees  for  the  traditions. 
Born  at  Tarsus,  he  belonged,  without  doubt,  to  the 
synagogue  of  the  Hellenists,  whose  wrath  against  the 
victorious  polemics  of  St.  Stephen  had  lit  up  the  first 
persecution  which  caused  blood  to  flow.  Saul  consent- 
ed to  the  murder  of  St.  Stephen.  Pie  participated  in 
it  ;  but  the  prayer  of  the  martyr  ascended  up  to  hea- 
ven for  him. 

Nevertheless,  at  the  end  of  a  year  he  breathed  but 

menaces  and  death  against  the  disciples  of  Jesus  Christ 

437 


488 


The  Life  of  our  Lord   yesus   Christ. 


at  Jerusalem.  He  demanded  of  the  high-priest  let- 
ters to  the  synagogue  of  Damascus,  so  as  to  arrest 
those  whom  he  found  in  that  city  and  drag  them  into 
prison.  He  was  on  his  way,  near  to  the  city  of  Damas 
eus.  Suddenly  he  saw  himself  enveloped  in  a  wonder- 
ful light  of  a  heavenly  hue  ;  he  was  prostrated  to  the 
earth,  and  a  voice  said  to  him  :  "  Saul,  Saul,  why  do 
you  persecute  me  ?  "  He  exclaimed  :  "  Lord,  who 
are  you?"  "I  am  Jesus  whom  you  persecute;  it  is 
hard  for  you  to  kick  against  the  goad  " — an  expression 
that  shows  that  the  grace  of  God  had  already  moved 
his  heart.  Terrified  and  trembling,  the  persecutor  no 
longer  resists.  "Lord,"  said  he,  "what  do  you  wish 
me  to  do  ?  "  The  Lord  replied  :  "  Rise  up  and  go 
into  the  city.  There  it  shall  be  told  you  what  you 
must  do." 

Those  who  accompanied  him  were  stopped  on  the 
way,  hearing  the  voice  without  any  person  appearing 
to  them.  Saul  had  seen  the  luminous  visage  and  the 
glorified  body  of  the  Saviour.  His  eyes  were  blinded 
in  the  presence  of  that  dazzling  splendor.  When  he 
opened  them  again,  he  could  not  see.  His  companions 
took  him  by  the  hand  and  led  him  to  Damascus.  For 
three  days  he  neither  ate  nor  drank,  and  his  eyes  re- 
mained deprived  of  sight.  The  third  day  a  disciple 
named  Ananias  heard  the  voice  of  the  Lord,  that  said 
to  him  :  "  Go  into  the  street  named  Strait,  to  the  house 
of  Judas,  where  you  will  find  a  man  named  Saul  of 
Tarsus  ;  for,  behold,  he  is  praying."  And  at  the  same 
moment  Saul  saw  in  spirit  a  man  named  Ananias,  who 
imposed  hands  on  him,  so  that  he  might  recover  his 
sight. 

Nevertheless,  Ananias  answered,  "  Lord,  I  have  heard 
that  this  man  has  cruelly  persecuted  your  saints  in   Je- 


The  Life  of  our  Lord  jfesus  Christ.  4S9 

rusalem,  and  also  that  lie  had  the  power  from  the 
chief  priest  to  arrest  here  all  those  who  invoke  your 
name." 

But  the  Lord  said  to  him  :  "  Go  ;  I  have  chosen  that 
man  even  to  bear  my  name  before  the  Gentiles  and  to 
carry  it  before  kings  and  the  children  of  Israel." 

Ananias  set  out  without  delay  to  find  out  the  perse- 
cutor. He  imposed  hands  on  him  and  said  to  him  : 
"  My  brother  Saul,  the  Lord  Jesus,  who  has  appeared  to 
you  on  the  road  you  were  travelling  on,  has  sent  me,  so 
that  you  might  recover  your  sight  and  be  filled  with  the 
Holy  Ghost." 

Instantly  from  the  eyes  of  Saul  fell  the  scales.  He 
saw,  rose  up,  and  received  baptism  ;  and  after  a  few 
days,  passed  with  the  disciples  of    Damascus,  he  en- 


tered the  synagogue,  proclaiming  that  Jesus  was  the 
Son  of  God.  Having  made  this  public  confession,  he 
retired  into  the  desert  all  alone  to  converse  with  Jesus, 
who  had  converted  him  and  who  instructed  him.  He 
passed  many  years  in  a  sort  of  retreat,  violently  hated 
by  the  Jews,  yet  half  suspected  by  many  of  the  faith- 
ful. He  returned  to  Jerusalem  at  the  end  of  three 
years,  to  see  Peter  and  stay  a  little  while.  His  great 
virtue  was  not  yet  known,  yet  less  his  genius.  Nobody, 
excepting  himself,  foresaw  his  special  vocation  for  the 
conversion  of  the  pagans.  He  commenced  to  give 
proofs  of  his  great  sanctity  and  wonderful  genius  at 
Antioch,  where  St.  Barnabas,  who,  like  himself,  was  an 
old  disciple  of  Gamaliel,  had  charge  of  a  church  chiefly 
composed  of  converted  pagans.  Very  soon  this  church 
became  as  flourishing  as  that  of  Jerusalem.  It  was 
at  Antioch  that  the  faithful,  accepting  the  popular 
mockery,  assumed  the  name  of  Christians. 

The  conversion  and  instruction  of  St.  Paul,  due  to 


49° 


The  Life  of  our  Lord  yesus  Christ. 


the  visible  interposition  of  Jesus  Christ,  was  the  last 
work  that  the  Lord  did,  so  to  speak,  in  his  own  person. 
By  this  miracle,  more  astonishing  than  a  resurrection, 
the  Son  of  God  gave  to  the  Church,  not  only  the  great- 
est of  her  doctors,  but  the  most  unexceptionable  of  his 
witnesses.  The  highest  human  intelligence  can  bring 
forward  nothing  to  contradict  the  testimony  of  St. 
Paul  touching  the  whole  truth  of  the  Gospel  history. 
St.  Paul  was  not  an  unlettered  and  ignorant  man, 
who  could  be  deceived  by  the  semblance  of  prodigies 
or  overcome  by  the  charm  and  ascendency  of  a  su- 
perior nature  ;  nor  was  he  a  man  to  rely  willingly  on 
what  he  was  told  without  thorough,  deep  investigation  ; 
nor  was  he  a  philosopher  that  the  seduction  of  thought 
or  language  could  lead  to  compose  a  myth  to  make 
the  world  receive  the  ideas  he  had  conceived.  He  was 
a  contemporary,  a  savant,  a  doctor  of  the  law,  a  Phari- 
see, an  enemy.  He  resisted  the  miracles  and  the  cor- 
dial and  candid  word  of  St.  Peter,  the  eloquence  and 
the  lofty  intelligence  of  St.  Stephen  ;  he  opposed  the 
workings  of  his  own  great  and  generous  heart.  Neither 
the  blood  of  martyrs  had  converted  nor  the  tears  and 
virtues  of  the  faithful  could  move  him.  Humanly 
speaking,  he  had  nothing  to  gain,  he  had  everything  to 
lose,  by  becoming  a  Christian.  He  is  overcome  ;  the 
glorified  beauty  of  Jesus  passed  before  his  eyes  like  a 
flash  of  lightning  ;  he  saw  what  he  wished  to  ignore  ; 
he  arises  from  the  earth  the  contrary,  the  opposite,  of 
what  he  had  been  ;  he  is  engaged  among  those  whom, 
he  came  to  persecute, 

The  enemies  of  Christ  have  invented  words  which 
give  an  account  of  those  interior  revolutions  of  which 
St.  Paul  was  the  first  example,  and  which  all  ages  and 
all  nations  have  seen  since  himself.       It  was  a  freak  of 


The  Life  of  our  Lord  jfesus  Christ.  49* 

madness,  it  was  a  fever,  it  was  a  "  hallucination."  Paul 
had  seen  the  brilliant  light  pass  before  his  eyes  ;  he 
thought  he  saw  the  face  of  Jesus,  and  a  flash  of  light- 
ning and  a  thunder-clap  made  him  believe  he  heard  his 
voice  ;  he  fancied  he  had  learned  what  he  had  already 
known.  It  is  thus  that  they  explain  the  conversion  of 
St.  Paul,  his  life,  his  labors,  his  doctrine,  his  martyr- 
dom, without  giving  themselves  trouble  to  inculpate 
his  sincerity.  ( 

But,  praise  be  to  God  !  the  figure  of  St.  Paul  is  per- 
fectly known  to  us.  Before  that  figure  reason  cannot 
prostitute  itself  to  the  degradations  that  totally  blind 
it.  If  Jesus  Christ  had  not  lived,  he  would  not  have 
died,  he  would  not  have  arisen  from  among  the  dead. 
If  he  had  not  been  the  Son  of  Mary,  the  Son  of  David, 
the  Son  of  God  ;  if  the  learned  of  Israel  had  not  dis- 
covered in  him  all  the  traits  of  the  Messias  announced 
in  the  Scriptures;  if  he  had  not  been  both' man  and 
God  whom  the  Gospel  presents  to  us,  assuredly  it 
would  be  of  very  little  matter  for  St.  Paul's  mind 
whether  it  was  a  thunder-clap  or  madness  that  struck 
him  en  the  road  to  Damascus.  Three  years  of  quasi- 
solitude  under  the  double  pressure  of  the  furious  hatred 
of  the  Jews  and  the  long  distrust  of  the  Christians 
gave  him  sufficient  time  to  know  himself.  The  first 
essay  of  apostolic  life  would  be  sufficient  to  afford  him 
good  sense.  The  apostolic  life  has  never  been  mild  or 
gentle,  according  to  nature  ;  it  has  never  been  ruder  than 
in  the  first  days  of  the  Church  ;  nobody  has  ever  borne 
its  weight  more  heavily  or  more  rigorously  than  St.  Paul. 

The  Lord  had  said  to  Ananias  in  sending  him  to 
Saul:  "I  will  show  him  how  much  he  must  suffer  for 
my  name."  When  St.  Paul  wrote  his  Second  Epistle 
to  the  Corinthians,  in  the  year  57  A.D.,  about  ten  years 


4g2  The  Life  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ. 

before  his  death,  he  had  already  been  scourged  by  the 


( 

Jews  and  three  times  whipped  with  rods  by  the  Ro- 
mans— punishments  often  mortal.  At  Lystra  the  Jews 
stoned  him  and  left  him  for  dead.  He  had  been  three 
times  shipwrecked.  Before  he  was  decapitated  he  was 
chained  and  put  in  prison  seven  times.  "  I  have  made 
many  voyages  ;  I  have  been  in  peril  on  rivers,  in  peril 
by  falling  into  the  hands  of  robbers,  in  peril  from  those 
of  my  own  nation,  in  peril  on  the  part  of  the  Gentiles, 
in  peril  in  the  city,  in  peril  in  the  desert,  in  peril  on 
the  sea,  in  peril  on  the  part  of  false  brethren.  I  have 
been  in  affliction  and  sorrow  ;  in  long  watchings,  in 
hunger  and  in  thirst  ;  in  much  fastings,  in  cold,  and 
in  nakedness.  Besides  the  outward  afflictions,  I  suf- 
fered those  of  the  spirit." 

This  was  the  life  which  the  man  designed  to  become 
the  chief  of  the  powerful  party  of  the  Pharisees  had  em- 
braced ;  and  he  commenced  it  immediately  after  Jesus 
Christ  had  made  known  to  him,  through  Ananias,  that 
he  would  point  out  to  him  how  much  he  should  suffer 
for  his  name. 

In  the  midst  of  this  life,  in  this  chain  of  trials, 
fatigues,  separations,  and  tortures,  having  before  his 
eyes  the  spectacle  and  weight  of  this  world  of  Satan, 
wherein  he  saw  successively  reign  Caligula,  Claudius, 
Nero,  he  superabounded  in  peace,  hope,  and  joy. 
He  himself  had  said  it,  in  words  all-resplendent,  from 
the  joy  of  his  heart.  Four  times  at  least  since  the 
apparition  of  Damascus  the  visible  presence  of  Jesus 
Christ  brought  to  him  the  heavenly  consolations  of  the 
cross,  the  peace  of  the  persecuted,  the  hope  of  the  con- 
demned, the  joy  of  tl  e  forsaken.  Once  the  ecstasy  carried 
him  up  in  the  presence  of  Jesus  Christ,  the  Son  of  Man 
reigning  in  heaven    in    immediate    proximity  to  God, 


The  Life  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ.  493 

and  he  heard  the  things  that  human  tongues  knew  not 
how  to  express.  He  was  so  full  of  God  and  of  his 
love  that  he  could  have  said  :  "  I  live  no  longer;  it  is 
Jesus  Christ  that  lives  in  me."  The  life  of  Jesus  Christ 
manifested  itself  in  him  by  the  wisdom  of  his  apostolic 
career;  a  simplicity  and  a  charity  surpassing  even  the 
grandeur  of  his  revelations  and  of  his  genius.  He  re- 
vealed the  secrets  of  grace  ;  he  threw  divine  light  on  its 
mysteries — the  mystery  of  predestination,  the  mystery 
of  the  Incarnate  Word,  the  vocation  of  the  Gentiles, 
the  sources  and  effects  of  the  principal  sacraments  of 
the  new  covenant  and  of  the   new  priesthood,   of  the 


abrogation  of  the  law,  and  of  our  true  liberty  in  Jesus 
Christ  ;  he  scattered  lights  with  a  hand  as  prudent  as 
it  was  vigilant,  with  a  heart  always  humble  and  meek. 
All  the  great  lights  and  intellects  who  have  taught  in 
the  Church  honored  him.  God  praised  him  far  more. 
He  wished  that  this  model  of  the  new  priest  and  of 
the  new  man  might  be  personally  known,  so  to  speak, 
to  the  human  race.  The  book  of  the  Acts  of  the 
Apostles  was  inspired  to  consolidate  the  rights  of  the 
apostolatc,  to  prove  incontestably  the  primacy  of 
Peter,  and  to  leave  us  a  history  and  an  everlasting 
portrait  of  Paul,  apostle  of  nations,  chosen,  conquered, 
and  formed  by  the  Lord  Jesus. 

St.  Paul  suffered  death  at  Rome  by  the  sword  in  the 
year  67  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  and  that  was  about 
his  age.  He  was  beheaded  on  the  Ostian  Road,  which 
was  the  great  thoroughfare  whereby  the  world  entered 
Rome,  which  the  sojourn  of  St.  Peter  had  already  made 
the  capital  of  the  Catholic  Church. 

The  same  year,  probably  the  same  day,  Peter,  bound 

hand  and  foot  by  the  same  executioners,  was  nailed  to 

the  cross.     God   had  drawn  him  from  the  hand  of  the 

( 
( 

( 
( 


494 


The  Life  of  our  Lord  yesus  Christ. 


Jews,  so  that  he  might  live  at  Rome,  and  that  the  tree 
of  the  cross  might  take  root  in  the  city  of  the  Caesars. 

Rome,  therefore,  was  and  still  is  the  second  Calvary 
and  the  second  cross.  They  planted  it  on  the  Vatican, 
where  the  garden  of  Nero  extended — a  soil  already 
thoroughly  watered  by  the  blood  of  martyrs.  It  was 
there  that  the  faithful  of  Christ,  covered  with  the  skins 
of  wild  beasts,  were  delivered  up  to  the  teeth  of  furious 
lions  ;  whilst  others,  daubed  over  with  pitch,  chained  to 
each  other,  were  burned  as  torches  to  give  light  to  the 
orgies  and  diabolical  sports  of  the  emperor.  Nero  was 
then  surrounded  by  Jewish  soothsayers  and  magicians, 
who  centred  in  him  all  their  hopes  of  the  Messias. 
The  Empress  Poppaea  was  a  proselyte.  These  influ- 
ences were  not  strangers  to  the  persecution.  Peter 
was  crucified  in  a  particular  manner:  the  feet  that 
Jesus  washed  turned  toward  heaven,  the  head  turned 
to  the  earth  downward,  as  if  to  let  the  crown  fall  from 
it.  On  the  Vatican  to-day  is  erected  the  basilica  dedi- 
cated to  the  Prince  of  the  Apostles  ;  there  resides,  after 
more  than  eighteen  hundred  years,  his  two  hundred 
and  fifty-fourth  successor.  "  Thou  art  Peter,  and  on 
this  rock  I  will  build  my  Church,  and  the  gates  of  hell 
shall  not  prevail  against  it." 


"- '■  *■-  '  "  -■"■■•--"  -- -  ' — - -"  - -■■-■- — ------ 


CHAPTER  V. 


THE   APOSTLES — ST.   JOHN. 


ALREADY  many  of  the  apostles  had  undergone 
martyrdom.  James,  son  of  Zebedee,  and  James, 
son  of  Alpheus,  were  put  to  death  at  Jerusalem,  the 
first  by  order  of  the  political  power,  the  second  at  the 
instigation  of  the  high-priest.  Andrew,  brother  of 
Peter,  after  having  evangelized  the  Scythians,  suffered 
death  on  the  cross  in  Achaia  ;  others  awaited  the  same 
recompense  in  far-off  missions  where  their  zeal  had  dis- 
persed them.  Although  the  end  of  all  may  not  be 
positively  known,  there  is  room  to  believe  that,  with 
the  exception  of  St.  John,  who  died  a  natural  death 
after  having  conquered  martyrdom,  all  had  given  to 
Jesus  Christ  a  testimony  of  their  blood. 

Counting  Matthias,  designated  by  lot,  Barnabas, 
elected  by  the  apostles,  and  Paul,  chosen  by  a  di- 
rect and  particular  occasion,  there  were  fourteen 
apostles;  and  of  these  fourteen,  specially  called  and 
specially  sent  to  preach  the  Gospel  by  Jesus  Christ, 
John,  about  forty  years  after  the  death  of  the  Saviour, 
remained,  if  not  the  only  living  one,  at  least  the  only 
one  as  on  evidence,  in  the  circle  of  Roman  civilization. 
God  preserved  for  a  long  time  this  aid  to  the  successor 
of  Peter,  the  sole  and  only  head  and  chief  of  the 
Church. 

495 


4o6  The  Life  of  our  Lord  Jesus   Christ. 

John  established  himself  at  Ephesus,  the  capital  of 
Asia  Minor,  the  centre  of  great  intellectual  activity. 
The  fickleness  of  the  Greek  mind  seemed  to  be  touched 
or  moved  by  Christianity  only,  as  it  were,  by  a  goad 
that  pushed  it  into  subtlety  and  chimeras.  It  con- 
jured up  systems  in  which  paganism  and  Judaism, 
covered  with  a  Christian  mask,  accorded  in  denying 
the  human  and  divine  reality  of  Jesus  Christ  and 
destroying  completely  his  moral  doctrine  and  his 
revelation.  The  watchfulness  of  an  apostle  was  neces- 
sary thereto.  No  person  could  better  provide  for  this 
necessity  than  he  whose  head  had  reposed  on  the  breast 
of  the  Lord,  and  who  had  afterwards  been  the  com- 
panion and  the  most  intimate  friend  of  St.  Peter. 
Some  traits  in  the  life  of  St.  John  portray  his  charity  and 
his  firmness.  Exhausted  by  age,  quite  incapable  of 
preaching,  he  caused  himself  to  be  carried  into  the 
assemblies  of  the  faithful,  and  there  he  did  not  cease 
repeating:  "  My  little  children,  love  one  another;  for,'' 
he  added,  "  all  is  said  when  that  is  done."  His 
apostolic  vigor  is  attested  by  the  persecution  that  the 
pagans  caused  him  to  endure.  Led  to  Rome  under 
Domitian,  and  plunged  into  a  large  caldron  of  boiling 
oil,  but  coming  out  from  it  safe  and  sound,  he  was 
banished  to  the  Isle  of  Patmos  till  the  death  of  the 
persecutor.  During  his  captivity,  or  immediately 
after,  he  wrote  the  Apocalypse,  a  book  full  of  mystery 
and  of  beauty,  always  luminous  and  always  obscure  ; 
whence  doctrine  and   prophecy  gush   forth  as  if  from  ( 

an  inexhaustible  source,  and  which,  unceasingly  inter- 
rogated, delivers  to  the  world  only  at  epochs  the  truths 
that  it  contains. 

A    perpetual    prophecy    of     the    destinies    of    the 
Church,  a  divine  tableau  or  picture  of  the  government 


The  Life  of  our  Lord  yesus  Christ.  497 

and  power  of  Jesus  Christ,  the  Apocalypse  is  also  the 
song  of  triumph.     It  is  the   cry  of  the  martyrs  whe 
subjected  the  world  to  the  Son  of  God.     The  apostle 
and  prophet  relates   the   combats   that  Satan   will  be 
engaged  in  ;  he  celebrates  the  fall  of  his  empire  when 
he  thought  himself  master   for  ever:    "And   I,  John, 
saw  the  holy  city,  the  new  Jerusalem,  which  came  down 
from  God  and   descended  from  heaven  like  as  a  bride 
adorned    to  meet   her  betrothed.      There  will   be  no 
more    any  malediction    there,  but  the  throne  of  God 
and  of  the  Lamb  will  be  there,  and  his  servants  shall 
serve  him.      They  will   behold   his  countenance,  and 
they  will  have  his  name  written  on  their  foreheads. 
There  will  be  no  more  night,  and  they  will  have  no 
need  of  the  light  of  the    lamp  nor  of  the  light  of  the 
sun  ;   because  the  Lord  God  will  enlighten  them,  and 
they  shall    reign   for  ever   and  ever.     .     .     .     Happy 
those  who  wash  their  robes  in  the  blood  of  the  Lamb, 
so  that  they  may  be  able  to  enjoy  the  tree  of  life,  and 
that  they  may  enter  the  city  through  the  gates.     Out- 
side   are    dogs,    sorcerers,    the    unchaste,    murderers, 
idolaters,  and  all  those  in  whom  the  truth  is  not.     '  I 
Jesus,'  says   Christ,  'have  sent   my  angel  to  testify  to 
you  those  things  in  the  churches.     I,  who  have  sprung 
from  the  stock  and  blood  of  David— I,  who  am  the 
bright,  effulgent,  shining  star,  the  bright    star  of  the 
morning,  the  spirit  and  the  spouse— say  come.     And  he 
that  heareth  let  him  say  come.     And  he  that  thirsteth, 
let  him  come;  and  he  that  will,  let  him  take  the  waters 
of  life  gratuitously.     Amen.     Come,  Lord  Jesus.'  " 

Thus  spoke  the  apostle,  prisoner  of  the  cruel  Do- 
mitian,  to  those  who  shed  as  they  wished  and  as 
much  as  they  wished  the  blood  of  the  martyrs. 
Domitian  formerly  gave  himself  the  title  of  God,  and 


498 


The  Life  of  out  Lord  jfesus  Christ. 


exacted  it  of  all,  whether  writing  or  speaking  to  him. 
He  caused  his  statue  to  be  placed  in  the  holiest  place 
in  the  Temple.  He  headed  his  letters  thus  :  "  Our 
Lord  and  God  commands."  The  world  obeyed  Do- 
mitian.  The  .Christians  died  under  the  most  cruel 
torments.  They  washed  their  robes  in  the  blood  of 
the  Lamb,  in  their  own  blood,  to  enter  through  the 
eternal  gates,  through  the  doctrine  of  the  apostles  ;  to 
enter  into  the  city  closed  against  idolaters,  against 
the  unchaste,  against  liars.  From  Stephen's  time  even 
till  that  moment  of  Gospel  history  what  torrents  of 
blood  had  already  flowed  to  attest  this  word  of  Jesus  : 
"  Have  confidence  ;  I  have  conquered  the  world  "  !  St. 
John  wrote  :  "  Whoever  is  born  of  God  is  victorious 
over  the  world  ;  and  what  obtains  the  victory  over  the 
world  is  our  faith." 

A  little  while  after  having  published  the  Apocalypse 
the  apostle  published  his  Gospel.  The  three  other 
Gospels  were  already  known.  Matthew,  the  first, 
wrote  what  he  had  seen.  Mark,  disciple  and  compa- 
nion of  Peter,  wrote  what  he  gathered  from  his  mas- 
ter. Luke,  disciple  and  faithful  companion  of  Paul, 
wrote  what  he  had  learned  with  much  care,  both  from 
the  apostle  and  from  faithful  witnesses  whom  he  had 
so  many  occasions  to  consult.  Through  the  urgent  re- 
quest of  both  the  priests  and  the  faithful,  at  the  mo- 
ment of  quitting  this  world,  John  wrote  in  his  turn  to 
demonstrate  that  Jesus  Christ  is  the  Son  of  God,  and 
that  all  who  believe  in  him  may  have  eternal  life. 
Without  naming  the  heretics  already  expert  in  spread- 
ing false  doctrine  touching  the  person  and  the  divine 
character  of  the  Saviour,  he  refuted  them.  At  the 
same  time  he  bore  testimony  to  and  completed  the 
Gospels  anteriorily  published. 


The  Life  of  our  Lord  jfesus  Christ.  499 

I  saias,  favored  with  the  sublimest  vision  that  was 
granted  to  the  holy  men  of  the  old  law,  beheld  "  the 
Lord  seated  on  a  throne,  elevated  and  sublime,  and  his 
garments  filled  the  enclosure  of  the  Temple,  resplen- 
dent with  his  majesty."  St.  John,  relating  the  words 
that  Isaias  heard  from  God  in  this  vision,  applies  them 
to  Jesus:  "Isaias  saw  his  glory  and  spoke  of  him." 
That  was,  say  the  fathers,  the  subject  of  St.  John's 
Gospel.  The  other  Evangelists  speak  more  of  the  hu- 
manity of  Christ.  John  is  properly  the  Evangelist  of 
his  divinity.  The  lion,  the  man,  and  the  bull,  sym- 
bols or  figures  of  the  others  walking  on  the  earth,  tell 
us  especially  what  the  Christ  has  done  in  the  flesh,  and 
record  chiefly  the  precepts  that  he  left  to  those  who 
carry  the  weight  of  the  flesh.  John  is  typified  by  the 
eagle.  He  takes  his  flight  far  above  human  infirmity  ; 
he  soars  above  all  altitudes  :  he  soars  above  all  that 
has  been  created  to  reach  to  him  who  has  created  all 
things,  and  on  that  Sun  of  immutable  truth  he  fixes 
his  piercing  and  undaunted  gaze.  St.  Chrysostom  does 
not  fear  to  say  that  there  are  many  things  which  the 
angels  have  learned  from  the  revelation  of  St.  John. 

It  was  his  privilege  to  know  the  mystery  of  Christ, 
by  which  the  Son  is  in  all  things  equal  to  the  Father  ; 
and  he  communicates  its  light  to  human  intelligence  \ 

in  as  far  as  it  can  be  received.  Like  Isaias,  he  had 
seen  the  Lord  on  a  throne,  elevated  and  sublime,  be- 
cause he  had  seen  the  Christ  in  the  kingdom  of  his 
divinity.  He  saw  the  Temple,  which  is  the  universe, 
animated  and  resplendent  with  his  majesty.  He  ex- 
presses this  when  he  says  that  all  things  have  been 
made  by  him,  and  that  without  him  nothing  was  made 
that  was  made,  and  that  his  light  enlightens  every  man 
coming  into  this  world.     He  has  seen  the  mysteries  of 


Tlie  Life  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ. 

his  humanity  filling  his  Temple — that  is  to  say,  his 
Church.  "  And  the  Word  was  made  flesh  ;  and  we 
have  seen  his  glory  as  the  only  Son  of  the  Father,  full 
of  grace  and  truth."  So  the  vision  of  Isaias  contains 
the  whole  Gospel  of  St.  John.  "  That  this  ignorant, 
this  illiterate  man,"  continues  St.  Chrysostom,  "  should 
so  speak  and  so  say  what  no  one  among  men  had  ever 
heard,  is  in  itself  a  great  miracle  ;  but  the  most  power- 
ful proof  of  the  divine  inspiration  is  that  all  in  all  ages 
understand  the  truths  he  has  revealed  and  are  per- 
suaded of  them.  Whence  came  this  virtue  or  power 
in  him?"  "He  poured  forth,"  replies  the  Bishop 
of  Hippo,  "  what  he  imbibed."  The  Holy  Ghost,  in 
his  own  Gospel,  says  of  him  that  during  the  Last 
Supper  his  head  reposed  on  the  breast  of  the  Lord. 
"  He  drank  in  mysteriously  of  that  source,  and  what 
he  imbibed  in  the  mystery  he  solemnly  poured 
forth." 

The  miracle  of  St.  John's  Gospel  terminates  the  age 
of  Jesus  Christ.  Last  gift  of  this  era  of  grace,  he  left 
to  the  new  world  an  echo  always  living  of  that  Word 
which  brought  it  forth  ;  or  rather,  it  is  this  Word  itself 
which  always  remains  luminous  and  fruitful.  It  has 
placed  beyond  all  attacks  the  knowledge  of  God,  the 
love  of  God  for  men,  man's  obligation  to  love  and  serve 
God  and  to  love  his  fellow-man — obligations  that  they 
could  not  fulfil  but  through  Jesus  Christ.  In  the  efforts 
which  the  spirit  of  negation,  which  is  the  spirit  of  Sa- 
tan, has  made  for  ages  to  subvert  Christianity,  the  most 
ardent  and  the  most  subtle  have  been  directed  against 
the  Gospel  of  St.  John.  They  were  all  vain  and  futile 
efforts;  they  will  be  always  so.  They  may  and  have 
shaken  some  weak  souls  ;  they  will  never  overthrow  the 
conscience  of  the  human  race.     The  reason  of  their  im- 


The  Life  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ. 


S°i 


potency  St.  John  himself  has  made  known  to  us.  "I 
have  written,"  said  he  to  us,  "so  that  you  may  believe 
that  Jesus  Christ  is  God,  and  that  in  believing  you  may 
have  life." 


CHAPTER  VI. 


THE   CONCLUSION. 


JESUS  CHRIST  is  the  only  Son  of  the  One  True 
God.  He  is  the  Power,  the  Wisdom,  and  the  Un- 
created Splendor  of  the  Uncreated.  He  is  the  God  of 
heaven  and  of  the  earth  ;  the  Eternal  King,  all  power 
ful  as  his  Father,  and  being  but  one  with  him  in  the 
undivided  Trinity.  By  a  mystery  that  surpasses  all 
understanding,  and  which  satisfies  all  reason,  God  gave 
him  to  the  world,  and  in  giving  him  he  has  given 
himself.  This  Jesus  thus  given  is  the  Son  of  Man 
and  the  Son  of  God — man  and  God  at  the  same 
time  :  man  born  under  the  law,  God  to  consummate 
and  accomplish  the  law  ;  man  to  serve,  God  to  set 
free  ;  man  to  bend  under  the  yoke,  God  to  con- 
quer ;  man  to  die,  God  to  triumph  over  death.  And 
such  is  this  marvel  that  the  eyes  of  our  spirit  can  see  the 
divinity  through  the  humanity — the  power  that  created 
the  world  and  conquered  hell  in  that  weakness  that 
man's  iniquity  nailed  to  the  cross.  For  Jesus  Christ  is 
a  divine  being  composed  of  two  natures  quite  different, 
the  one  divine,  the  other  human  ;  the  one  uncreated, 
the  other  created  ;  the  one  eternal,  the  other  temporal 
By  this  work,  by  this  miracle,  the  Divinity  lives  in 
man  and  man  subsists  in  God  ;  the  man  and  God  con- 
tinually subsist  in  Jesus  Christ.      He  is  born,  but  born 

502 


"1 


The  Life  of  our  Lord  jfesus  Christ.  503 

of  a  Virgin.  He  is  but  a  poor  infant  in  a  borrowed 
crib;  but  a  star  announces  him  ;  the  angels  salute  him 
with  a  canticle  of  heavenly  praise  which  contains  in 
two  words  all  wisdom  ;  the  saints  bless  and  praise 
him  ;  the  learned  kings  come  to  adore  him  ;  tyrants 
fear  him.  He  flees,  but  surrounded  with  an  invisi- 
ble guard;  he  lives  in  humility,  though  Sovereign 
Master;  in  infirmity,  but  his  word  cures  all  maladies; 
he  resuscitates  the  dead,  casts  out  devils,  arrests  the 
growth  of  plants,  commands  the  elements  ;  he  pays 
the  tribute  by  rendering  the  sea  tributary  ;  he  suffers 
on  the  cross,  but  it  is  at  the  predicted  hour  and  as  he 
wished  it  ;  he  expires,  but  the  centurion  acknowledges 
him  on  the  infamous  wood  on  which  he  expires,  as  the 
shepherds  and  magi  acknowledged  him  in  the  crib 
where  he  was  born  ;  he  died,  and  was  entombed  ;  he 
put  back  himself  the  stone  of  his  sepulchre,  and  he 
issues  from  it  alive. 

Is  this  God  ?  Is  this  man?  Where  is  the  God  in 
those  humiliations,  in  those  sufferings,  in  those  miseries  ? 
Where  is  the  man  in  those  wonders  ?  Neither  the  God 
nor  the  man  is  alone  in  any  part.  Jesus  has  so  well 
blended  his  divinity  and  his  humanity  that  any  division 
or  separation  would  render  him  inexplicable.  If  he 
is  not  God,  he  is  but  an  impostor.  If  he  is  not  man, 
the  work  of  God  can  no  longer  be  conceived  or  under- 
stood, and  the  Deity  itself  disappears  ;  God  alone 
can  account  for  the  man,  and  man  alone  can  account 
for  the  God  ;  and  he  is  in  all  Man-God.  Everywhere 
he  surpasses  human  reason,  and  he  does  not  violate  it 
in  any  part  ;  he  incessantly  confounds  it,  but  he  never 
terrifies  it. 

Pope  St.  Hormisdas,  resuming  the  teaching  of  Pope 
St.  Leo,  gives  to  an  emperor  a  beautiful  explication  of 


i__.. 


Tlie  Life  of  our  Lord  ye  sus  Christ 

the  mystery  of  the  two  natures  in  Jesus  Christ  :  "  God 
is  trinity — that  is  to  say,  Father,  and  Son,  and  Holy 
Ghost.  Notwithstanding,  God  is  one.  But  hear,  O 
Israel  !  the  Lord  thy  God  is  one  God  only.  Any  other 
doctrine  either  divides  the  Divinity  and  admits  the 
foolish,  pagan  impiety  of  a  plurality  of  Gods,  or  at- 
tributes suffering  to  the  essence  itself  of  the  Trinity, 
and  supposes  grief  in  the  impassible  divine  nature.  The 
Holy  Trinity  is  one  God  only,  who  is  not  numerically 
multiplied  ;  who  receives  no  increase  or  addition  of  any 
sort  ;  who  undergoes  no  division.  This  mystery  of  the 
eternal  substance  is  inaccessible  to  the  most  elevated 
of  invisible  natures  ;  we  will  not  undertake  to  submit 
its  depths  to  the  laws  of  human  things.  Let  us  adore 
the  incomprehensibility  and  the  ineffable  substance  of 
the  Trinity — the  Father,  the  Son,  and  the  Holy  Ghost 
— wherein  distinction  subsists  in  indivisibility,  wherein 
unity  prevents  all  division  of  the  essence,  although 
the  persons  introduce  number;  and  let  us  take  care  to 
leave  to  each  Person  what  distinguishes  it,  without 
taking  away  from  any  of  them  the  divinity,  without 
ascribing  to  the  essence  what  is  the  property  of  one 
or  of  the  other. 

"  God  the  Father,  God  the  Son,  God  the  Holy  Ghost 
trinity  without  division — incomprehensible  mystery  ! 
We  know,  however,  that  what  is  proper  to  the  Father  is 
to  engender  the  Son  ;  that  what  is  proper  to  the  Son 
of  God  is  to  be  born  of  the  Father  and  to  be  equal  to 
the  Father;  that  it  is  proper  to  the  Holy  Ghost  to 
proceed  from  the  Father  and  the  Son,  in  the  unity  of 
the  same  substance.  What  is  written,  that  in  the  ful- 
ness of  time  '  the  Word  was  made  flesh,  and  that  it 
dwelt  among  us,'  is  also  proper  of  the  Son  of 
God.     So  that  in  the  womb  of  the  holy  Virgin  Mary, 


The  Life  of  our  Lotd  yesus  Christ.  505 


virgin  Mother  of  God,  the  two  natures  were  united 
without  any  confusion.  He  who,  before  all  time,  is  the 
Son  of  God,  became  the  Son  of  Man.  He  was  born 
in  time,  of  a  mother,  like  other  men,  but  without  open- 
ing the  wonib  of  his  mother,  and  leaving  intact  the 
seal  of  her  most  holy  and  her  most  perfect  virginity — 

j  a  mystery  quite  worthy  of  the  birth  of  a  God.     Ought 

he  not  to  be  born  preserved  from  all  human  stain — he 
whose  conception  took  place  without  any  intervention 
of  man,  and  who  preserved  what  he  had  held  from  the 
Heavenly  Father  while  offering  to  the  eyes  of  man 
what  he  had  taken  from  his  blessed  mother? 

"  While  couched  in  a  crib  he  was  at  the  same  time 

\  in  heaven.     While  enveloped  in  swaddling-clothes  he 

was  adored  by  the  heavenly  army.  While  yet  an  in- 
fant he  taught  a  superhuman  doctrine  and  manifested 
his  power  by  divine  prodigies — God  and  man  at  the 

\  same  time,  not  by  any  addition,  but   because  he  was 

himself  the  Son  of  God.  God  and  man — that  is  to  say, 
strength  and  weakness,  humility  and  majesty,  servant 
yet  redeemer;  nailed  to  the  cross,  yet  giving  the  king- 
dom of  heaven;  clothed  with  our  infirmity  to  the  de- 
gree of  undergoing  death,  yet  possessor  of  the  divine 
power  to  the  degree  of  restoring  life.  Because  he 
wished  to  become  man  he  was  buried  ;  because  he  re- 
mained like  to  his  Father  he  arose  from  the  dead. 
Being  one  among  the  dead,  he  has  reanimated  those 
who  were  mouldering  in  the  tomb  ;  without  quitting 
the  bosom  of  his  Father,  he  descended  into  hell  ;  hav- 
ing rendered  up  his  soul  according  to  the  law  common 
to  all  men,  he  assumed  it  again  by  his  power  as  God. 

"  In  all  this  he  proves   himself  both  God  and  man. 
Lest     the    spectacle    of    the    suffering    of    his    body 

might  lead  us   to  believe  that  he  was  not  God  ;  lest 
\ 


5o6  The  Life  of  our  Lord  ye  sus   Christ. 

the  splendor  of  his  miracles  should  force  us  to 
think  that  he  was  God  only,  and  that  he  was  not  man, 
he  has  instructed  us  by  the  opposite  conduct  of  two 
of  the  apostles.  The  faith  of  Peter  convinces  us  that 
the  Christ  our  Lord  was  God  ;  the  doubt. of  Thomas 
that  he  was  man.  When  he  demanded  of  his  disci- 
ples what  men  said  of  him,  what  did  he  wish,  if  not  to 
provoke  the  response  of  St.  Peter,  "You  are  the 
Christ,  Son  of  the  living  God  "  ?  And  the  praise  given 
to  this  confession,  inspired  of  God  the  Father,  pro- 
duces in  us  the  faith  in  the  truth  that  it  reveals.  In 
the  same  way,  when,  after  the  resurrection  of  the  Lord, 
the  Saviour  appeared  to  the  apostles,  why  the  absence 
and  afterwards  the  doubt  of  Thomas  ?  It  was  that 
the  world  might  believe  what  the  incredulous  disciple 
verified,  and  that  the  universality  of  the  faithful  might 
know  what  Jesus  was  through  the  testimony  of  him 
whom  he  commanded  to  touch  him.  For  the  meek 
and  beneficent  Saviour  did  not  thus  give  us  evidence 
of  the  incredulity  of  Thomas  for  the  confusion  of  his 
holy  apostle,  but  for  the  instruction  of  posterity.  Thus, 
too,  the  Lord  joined  the  two  disciples  who  were  on 
their  journey  to  Emmaus,  and  conversed  with  them. 
They  had  learned  of  the  resurrection  through  the  re- 
port of  the  holy  women,  and  yet  they  remained  in 
doubt.  But  their  incredulity  served  to  strengthen  the 
faith  in  ages  to  come.  Jesus,  interpreting  Moses 
and  all  the  prophets,  demonstrated  to  them  that  Christ 
was  to  suffer,  so  as  to  enter  into  his  glory  ;  and  he 
established,  by  multiplied  testimonies  from  the  Holy 
Scriptures,  that  in  him  were  found  at  once  the  two 
natures — the  human  nature,  which  his  Passion  testi- 
fies to  ;  the  divine  nature,  which  reveals  his  glory." 
In  the  designs  of  Jesus  Christ  over  the  world  the 


The  Life  of  our  Lord  ye  su  s  Christ.  507 

same  mystery  manifests  itself  by  the  same  appearance 
of  opposition  between  those  designs  and  the  means 
that  he  employs  to  accomplish  them.  He  wishes  to 
establish  an  empire  on  earth,  a  prey  to  might  and 
force.  He  holds  that  force  in  his  hands  ;  he  breaks  it 
into  atoms.  He  wishes  to  draw  the  world  to  himself, 
and  he  takes  quite  the  reverse  course  to  what  the 
world  looks  for.  He  is,  and  he  is  called,  the  Crucified. 
He  bequeaths  to  twelve  ignorant  men  that  cross  as  an 
inheritance,  and  he  enjoins  on  them  to  present  it  to 
the  human  race.  They  do  it,  and  they  triumph  ;  and 
that  is  done  in  less  time  than  the   most  powerful  em- 

)  pire  could  succeed  in  stifling  the  nationality  of  a  con- 

quered colony.  Idols  fall  and  a  new  humanity  rises 
up  ;  the  word  alone  of  Jesus  Christ  operates  such  a 
miracle.  This  word  that  he  gave  to  the  apostles,  and 
which  they  did  not  understand  till  he  pronounced  it — 
this  word  that  was  revolting  to  the  Jews,  which  is  re- 
volting to  the  first  instincts  of  every  man — is  neverthe- 

\  less,  as  the   apostles  now  call  it,  the  "  word  cf  recon- 

ciliation," which  disposes  all  in  order  and  in  peace — 
man  with  God,  man  with  man,  man  with  himself.  It 
changes  all,  in  society,  in  minds,  and  hearts  ;  it  illu- 
minates every  darkness  ;  it  makes  barrenness  fruitful; 
by  it  the  stupefied  Jew  sees  clearly  into  the  Scriptures, 
whose  profound  depths  desolated  his  intelligence;  the 
pagan  escapes  from  the  labyrinth  wherein  sophism 
devoured  his  reason. 

What  a  life,  what  a  light,  even  in  the  first  Chris- 
tians !  What  holy  joy  and  heavenly  peace  !  Man  hence- 
forth knows  where  he  is  joiner;  he  feels  himself  mas- 
ter  of  his  route  ;  he  is  sure  of  his  end.  The  word  of 
the  Creator  made  man  but  a  man  ;  the  Incarnate  Word 

{  made  of  man  a  god  ;   it   made  him    "  a  sharer  in  the 


5o8 


The  Life  of  oar  Lord  yesus  Christ. 


divine  nature."  It  was  St.  Peter  who  said  this  im- 
mense thing,  and  man  believes  it,  comprehends  it — 
man,  who  adored  the  fetich  and  the  Caesar  ;  and  on 
this  lofty  height  whereon  he  ascends  he  becomes 
humble  and  meek,  and  the  sublime  faculty  of  adora- 
tion, till  then  so  deplorably  abused,  develops  itself  ac- 
cording to  its  nature,  and  crowns  the  earth  with  a  bril- 
liant army  of  saints. 

It  is  objected,  nevertheless,  that  all  are  not  convert- 
ed. They  show,  with  a  homicidal  joy,  how  many,  on 
the  contrary,  detach  themselves  and  go  off.  Without 
doubt,  God  does  not  do  what  he  has  not  wished  to  do. 
Free  will  remains.  "  He  who  has  created  you  without 
yourself  will  not  save  you  without  yourself,"  says  St. 
Augustine.  You  do  not  wish  to  save  yourself;  you  do 
not  wish  to  aid  Jesus  Christ  in  the  work  of  your  salva- 
tion.    You  will  not  be  saved  ;  you  shall  die. 

We  must  adore  either  in  heaven  or  in  hell.  It  is  for 
man  to  choose.  There  is  all  your  free-will  ;  and  let 
not  the  pride  and  stupidity  of  man  think  of  making  it 
a  divine  dignity  by  calling  it  liberty.  God  alone  pos- 
sesses liberty.  Man  has  free  will,  and  that  is  a  good 
deal  ;  but  he  cannot  dispense  himself  from  exercising  it. 
He  chooses  between  good  and  evil,  heaven  and  hell. 
It  is  impossible  for  man  to  refrain  from  so  doing,  and 
to  do  that  is  to  admit  that  he  has  made  a  choice. 

This  free  choice,  always  left  to  the  individual,  is 
sometimes  proposed  to  the  whole  human  race.  A  de- 
cree of  God  compels  it  to  give  its  decision  between 
Jesus  and  Barafebas.  Modern  civilization,  founded  on 
the  divinity  of  Jesus  Christ,  undergoes  one  of  these 
dreadful  crises.  It  inclines  to  and  favors  Barabbas.  It 
willingly  listens  to  the  language  that  bids  it  drive  from 
society  the  remembrance,  the  love,  of  Jesus  Christ — to 


The  Life  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ.  509 

) 

drive  him  from  the  world.      What  will  happen  if  Jesus 
Christ  is  driven  from  the  world? 

To  remove  Jesus  Christ  from  the  world  is  impos- 
sible;  the  very  tomb  preserves  him  living.       He  may 
permit  them   to   take  away   the  throne   from    him,  trt 
nail  him  again  to  the  cross  ;  but  the  spirit  that  medi- 
tates   this    great    crime    against    God  and  the    human 
family  does  not  so  much   wish   to   rob   kings  of  their 
crowns  as   to   give    them   the   tiara,  the    triple  crown, 
of  the  three  concupiscences — the  tiara  of  Satan.     The 
epoch  that  will  see  again  Jesus  Christ  on  Calvary  will 
see  again  Tiberius   at   Caprea,  and  the  god  Tiberius 
shall   have    his    temples    again.     But    such    a    divinity 
shall   have   but    an    hour;    and  yet    the  Church  shall 
live    and    flourish   during  this  hour   of   trial,  and   the 
general  order  of  the  redemption  shall  be  maintained. 
The  secrets  of  Christ's  mercy  are  unfathomable,  like 
those  of  his  power.      All  that  ought  to  belong  to  Christ 
shall  belong  to  him.      Even  to  the  very  last  hour  of 
the   world    the    redemption    will    profit,    in   some   de- 
gree, the  whole  human  race.      It  is  like  that  torrent  of 
liquid  fire  that  flows  from  the  regions  of  the  sun,  and 
which  courses  through  the  icy  waters  of  the  sea   in 
their  vast  extent.     Without  doubt,  the  whole  ocean  is 
not  warmed  by  it — frozen  regions  yet  remain  ;  but  if 
this  beneficent  flood  did  not  exist,  all  would  be  frozen, 
all   would    perish.       It   is  its   heat   that   preserves  life 
wherever  it  is  found  in  any  degree  ;  and  where  life  is 
most  abundant  it  works  enterprises,  it  incessantly  real- 
izes conquests  over  death. 

And  there  are  no  dead  récrions  which  the  inhabitants 
of  the  regions  of  life  do  not  reach — those  living  ones 
who  chant  the  Credo  of  the  disciples  of  the  Lord  and 
Saviour  Jesus  Christ. 


i 

) 
) 

L 


Date  Due 

Ja  17 

'48 

60V  30  ^| 

I 

f) 

miïÈSÊ. 


WÊÊÊm 
mm 

pu 


